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GOFiRRiHT ItEFOSIT. 







Blanche of Castile and Louis IX 



Little Stories of France 



BY 



; \ MAUDE BARROWS (DUTTON)/.^^ 

AUTHOR OF "THE WORLD AT WORK IN FIELD AND PASTURE" 

WITH A PREFACE BY 

SAMUEL T. BUTTON 



o>»^o*- 



fl • « 



NEW YORK • : • CINCINNATI • : • CHICAGO 

AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY 



5" 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
TwoCoDies Received 

JUL 17 1906 

ooyritfUt Entry , 
CljKSS CC XXc. Ne, 

f^3 o So 

^ COPY B. 



Copyright, 1906, by 
MAUDE BARROWS DUTTON. 



LITTLE STORIES OF FRANCE. 



W. P. 1 



PREFACE 

The child needs the background of history as 
an aid to the interpretation of his experience and 
for the understanding of current events. In our 
cosmopoUtan life, since we are in close touch with 
all peoples and are constantly hearing about them, 
there is need at least of the simplest elementary 
facts in the history of the great nations. The 
French people have held such a central position in 
the world's affairs, and have contributed so much 
to civilization, that the young student should at an 
early stage possess himself of the outlines of their 
history. He is then enabled to put together the 
past and present of that interesting country and to 
view the one in the light of the other. Then, too, 
the fact that French is the first foreign language 
which American children are expected to study is 
another valid reason for placing before them in its 
most interesting form the main facts of French 
history. 

These little stories may be read by children 
from seven to fourteen years of age. They may 
be read while the geography of France is being 

5 



studied, so that the subject may be clothed with 
human interest and so made more valuable. 

These stories are about kings and courts in the 
days when peace had fewer advocates than now, but 
they are so written that there is nothing in them 
which cannot be read with profit, and the pictur- 
esque, agreeable aspects of the narrative are given 

prominence. 

SAMUEL T. DUTTON. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

France of Long Ago 9 

Vercingetorix, the Bravest of the Gauls . . .12 

Sainte Genevieve 15 

Clovis 20 

King Dagobert the Good 24 

Pepin the Short 27 

Charlemagne . . • 29 

Roland and his Good Sword Durandal . . . . 34 

Sea Dragons from the North 38 

The Capetian Kings . . . . . . „ .41 

The Crusades 43 

The French Children's Crusade . . . . . -47 

Louis the Young . . . 51 

Philip, the Gift of God 54 

Saint Louis (IX) ......... 58 

The Hundred Years' War . . . . , ... 63 

King John, the Royal Hostage 68 

Bertrand du Guesclin, the Diamond in the Rough . 71 

Du Guesclin fights for France ']'] 

Charles VI, the Mad King 81 

The Maid of Orleans 84 

Louis XI, the Superstitious King 90 

France and Bayard 94 

Francis I . 100 

The Period of Religious Wars . . . . . .105 

King Henry of Navarre no 

7 



8 

PAGE 

Richelieu, the Great Minister . . . . . • "5 

The Sun King ii8 

Louis XV . . • .124 

The Locksmith King . . . • • • • .127 

The French Revolution 132 

The Little Corporal 136 

The Emperor Napoleon ■ . 142 

Back from Exile 146 

The Little King of Rome . 151 

The Citizen King I55 

Napoleon III ^5^ 

The Siege of Paris 164 

The Commune 168 

France of To-day . 171 



LITTLE STORIES OF FRANCE 



3j*:oo- 



FRANCE OF LONG AGO 

A LONG, long time ago, many years before Christ 
was born, the country that we now know as France 
was called Gaul. Dense, green forests spread over 
the hills and covered the plains. Rivers flowed for 
miles and miles through nothing but wilderness. 
But occasionally, deep in the heart of the forest, 
on the bank of one of these rivers, would be a 
clearing. Here the Gauls had cut down the trees 
and built their earth huts, which were high and 
pointed like haystacks. 

The Gauls who lived in these little settlements 
were very tall and strong. They had blue eyes 
and yellow hair, which they sometimes dyed red, 
so that they might look terrible in battle. When 
the men were not away fighting, they spent all 
their time hunting and fishing. They would 
3teal away, in the early morning, far into the green 

9 



lO 



woods, and then come proudly home at evening 
dragging behind them the buffaloes or wild boars 
which they had killed. 

Their wives came out joyfully to meet them, and 
sat down on the ground with them to skin the 
animals. When they had taken off the whole hide, 
they spread it in the sun to dry, for they made all 
their clothing from the skins of wild animals. 

Meanwhile the little boys and girls had been 
gathering sticks and underbrush into a big pile, and 
over it had hung the iron kettle. When all was 
ready, they struck fire from flint stones, for they 
had no matches in those days, and soon the kettle 
was boiling merrily. Into this their mothers threw 
big pieces of meat, and presently they were having 
a fine feast there, deep within the wood. 

There were no schools for these boys and girls, 
but the priests or Druids were their teachers. The 
Druids could not teach the children much, but they 
used to gather them beneath some large sheltering 
oak and tell them stories and teach them songs. 
These stories were always about their fathers and 
grandfathers and great-grandfathers ; stories of how 
they had always loved justice, avenged insult, and 
been brave and fearless even unto death. And the 
songs the children learned were something like 
this ; — 



II 

" Our fathers have drawn their swords against kings and the 
raging ocean. They have hurled their arrows against the thunder 
and the hghtning. They have feared nothing except that the sky 
should fall upon their heads." 

Then the boys would jump to their feet, shout- 
ing : " We will be like them ! We, too, will be 
brave fighters ! " 

Often on a bright starlight night the whole tribe 
gathered together around the Druids. The bards, 
too, were there with their harps to sing of the 
glory of their ancestors and their splendid victories. 
Then a great silence fell on the people, when sud- 
denly the chief of the Druids, an old man with a 
flowing white beard, dressed in a loose white robe, 
came forth from the sacred grotto carrying a golden 
sickle in his hand. Slowly he walked over to his 
rude altar, often merely a large flat stone placed 
on a rock, and there burned the sacrifice. Then 
he cut from the branches of the oak sprays of gray- 
green mistletoe, and gave a piece to each one in 
the tribe to carry home as a remembrance of the 
sacred forest meeting. 



t^ 



VERCINGETORIX, THE BRAVEST OF THE 

GAULS 

As the tribes scattered over Gaul grew larger 
and larger, they were nearly always at war with one 
another, instead of cultivating their fields and build- 
ing towns. Then, when the fighting was over, the 
victorious warriors would give a great feast. If a 
traveling merchant happened to be passing through 
the village at such a time of festivity, he would be 
brought in to the feast to tell tales of his country and 
his people. The weary peddler would take his 
place among the warriors and perhaps tell them some 
such story as the following, of which they seemed 
never to tire. 

" My home is in Italy, far away from here, over 
the snow-covered Alps. It is in a southern land, 
where the sky is always blue and the sun shines 
warm and bright, and flowers bloom all the year 
round. My people are the strongest, the bravest, 
and most powerful people in the world. They have 
a noble city, Rome, for their capital, and they call 
themselves after it, Romans. My people are proud 
of their city, Rome, but they are prouder still of 
their Roman army. This army has marched into 
many countries and everywhere it is victorious. 
Soon Rome shall be mistress of the world ! " 



13 

Then he ended by telling them about the splendors 
of Roman dress and Roman banquets, and spread out 
his wares that they might see for themselves. And 
the Gauls bought them eagerly, for they longed to 
be as fine as the Romans. 

When the merchant had sold all his goods, he 
journeyed back to Rome, and told his people a tale 
that they were no less anxious to hear. It was of 
broad, fertile fields lying at waste, and many small 
clans so busy fighting one another that a Roman 
army could easily conquer them. 

Slowly the Roman army began to move toward 
Gaul. One day it seized one town, a little later an- 
other. The Gauls, busy with their petty warfare, 
paid no attention to the invaders. Not until word 
reached the border land that Caesar was coming did 
the Gauls realize their danger. They had all heard 
of Ccesar, Rome's greatest general. 

A young mountain chief, Vercingetorix, finally 
aroused the Gauls. He besought them to unite 
against Ccesar. At length they did so, and put 
Vercingetorix at their head ; but it was too late. 
Caesar, with his legions of trained soldiers, was in 
their very midst. All the Gallic chief could do 
was to retire into the stronghold of Alesia, and send 
out his cavalry to beseech the tribes of Gaul to 
come to his aid. On Caesar came, surrounded 



14 

the city, and ordered his men to dig a deep ditch 
about it. 

Day by day, Vercingetorix watched for his friends. 
At last he saw an immense army hurrying to his 
aid. Rallying his men, he rushed forth from his 
stronghold to meet them. Then he saw Caesar's 
trap. The big ditch held him within his fortress, 
and kept his friends outside. The Gauls fought like 
lions, but could not unite their two forces. At the 
end of three days the army that had come to help 
Vercingetorix retreated, leaving the plains covered 
with the slain. Vercingetorix saw that he was con- 
quered. He led his men back into Alesia. 

The next morning, when Caesar was sitting in 
his high tribunal, within the Roman lines, a splendid 
horseman galloped up to him and drew rein. He 
sprang from his horse, threw his weapons at Caesar's 
feet, and stood with arms folded, silently awaiting 
his doom. It was Vercingetorix. Ccesar, the cruel 
conqueror, looked a moment at the brave young 
hero, then bade his men load him with chains. A 
few months later, when Caesar returned to Rome as 
the conqueror of all Gaul, Vercingetorix was dragged 
behind his chariot in the triumphal procession. 
Six years of imprisonment followed and then Vercin- 
getorix was put to death. 

Gaul was now a province of mighty Rome. 



15 



SAINTE GENEVIEVE 

The Romans taught the Gauls many things. 
First of all they made long straight roadways 
through the entire province, reaching from one end 
of Gaul to the other; next they built bridges over 
the rivers. In the settlements they built houses, 
theaters, and great baths, until a little village grew 
into a large Roman tow^n, sometimes fortified by 
a Roman wall. So well did the Romans build their 
walls and baths that the ruins of some of them are 
standing to-day. 

Then the Romans showed the Gauls how to till 
the fields and sow seed, and taught them how to dig 
minerals and iron out of their mines. Druidism was 
gradually given up for the religion of Rome. So, 
little by little, the Gauls gave up their life of fighting 
and began to look upon the Romans, who had done 
so much for their land, not as conquerors but as 
friends. 

Into this peaceful Romanized Gaul a new enemy 
now pushed its way. The Germans came down 
from the north like a cloud-burst out of a clear sky. 
They came, great giants of men, blue-eyed, red- 
haired, and wearing about their bodies the long- 
haired, shaggy skins of wild animals. They hated 
cities and towns, and all the works of peace. They 



i6 



lived to hunt" animals and fight men. The Gauls 
fell back before them, faint-hearted. They had for- 
gotten their bravery of former days and their love of 
war. They cried to Rome for help, but the Roman 

Empire was now 
so vast that it did 
not have armies 
enough to protect 
ah its provinces. 
The Germans 
swarmed down 
through Gaul, and 
one tribe of them, 
the Franks, settled 
there and gave 
their name to the 
land. The Parisii, 
a small Gallic 
tribe, were the 
first settlers of the 
town that after- 
ward grew into the great city of Paris. 

Then there came another foe, the Huns, a horde 
of wild horsemen from the heart of Asia. These 
little, short, black-haired men slept, ate, and fought 
in the saddle. Headed by their king, Attila, they 
swept across Europe, plundering and burning. 




Attila 



17 

Ever nearer and nearer Paris drew this troop of 
barbarians. At last the people decided to flee for 
their lives, and leave their city to Attila's mercy. 
One voice alone arose, saying : " Calm your fears. 
Sta3% stay in your beloved Paris. Attila shall be 
turned from his course. He shall not burn a single 
house. His sword shall not slay one of you." 

This was the cry of neither warrior nor king. 
It came from the lips of a gentle, quiet woman, 
whom many of the people had often seen kneeling 
in prayer, or carrying food and clothing to the poor. 
Her name was Genevieve, and she was the daughter 
of simple country folk. But there had always been 
something about Genevieve that made her seem dif- 
ferent from others, even when she was a little girl. 

One day there was great excitement in the village 
where she lived, because the bishop was coming. 
Genevieve left her sheep on the hillside that she 
might go with her parents to hear the good man 
speak. The bishop noticed the little seven-year-old 
maid who was listening so eagerly to what he said. 
He seemed to know then that she had some great 
work to do in the future. Calling her to him, he 
hung about her neck a small coin on which was a 
sign of the cross, and told her that she was chosen 
to be the handmaiden of the Lord. Genevieve, as 
she sat tending her sheep day by day, often put up 

LITTLE STORIES OF FRANCE — 2 



i8 

her hand to feel if the coin were still about her 
neck. She thought again of the bishop's kind face 
and wondered what his words to her had meant. 

There are many legends told of the wonderful 
things connected with Genevieve while she was still 
a little girl. Once, it was said, her mother boxed 
Genevieve's ears in anger. The next moment the 
mother was struck blind. For many months she sat 
in darkness, until the prayers of her little daughter 
at length brought back her sight. 

When Genevieve's parents died, the young girl 
went to Paris to live with an aged aunt. Here it 
was that she heard of the Huns, and how the people 
of Paris feared them. At the same time a voice 
seemed to come from within her, telling her that 
she must calm the people and keep them from 
letting the city fall into the hands of the bar- 
barians. Genevieve believed this to be God's voice. 
Although she had always been so shy and quiet, 
now she went forth into the streets and spoke to the 
terror-stricken men and women, urging them to 
defend the city. Perhaps the little coin about her 
neck gave her courage. 

Her calmness and sweetness won the people's 
hearts. They crowded about her to listen to her 
reassuring words. They believed her. " We will 
not flee," they cried at last. " We will stay." 



19 




Sainte Genevieve 



20 



In a few days they learned that Attila and the 
Huns had passed the city of Paris by and had 
met a terrible defeat. 

Genevieve lived to be nearly ninety years old, 
devoting her life to helping the poor and needy. 
All the people in Paris loved and honored her, and 
many buildings in the city to-day bear her name. 

CLOVIS 

One of the Prankish chiefs who fought most 
valiantly against the Huns was named Meroveus. 
After his death the people chose their kings from his 
family and called them Merovingians. One Mero- 
vingian lad, named Clovis, was made ruler at the age 
of fifteen. Never was a king more ambitious than he. 
At the age of twenty we find him inducing another 
Prankish chieftain to join with him against a hos- 
tile neighbor. Together their army counted five 
thousand warriors. Clovis was successful, and after 
the battle the warriors gathered at Soissons to 
divide the booty. 

Now among the plunder there was a vase belong- 
ing to the church, and the archbishop besought 
Clovis that this be returned to its proper place. 
" If in the partition the vase falls to my lot," replied 
Clovis, " I will honor the archbishop's wishes." 



21 



So, when the men were gathered together, the 
young king stepped forward. " VaHant warriors," 
he spoke, " I pray you not to refuse me, over and 
above my share, this vase." And the assembly 
repHed, " Glorious king, everything that we see 
here is thine, and we ourselves are submissive to 
thy commands. Do thou as seemeth good to thee, 
for there is none that can resist thy power." 

But there was one Frank who was jealous of 
Clovis, and this humble reply of the warriors 
angered him. As they ceased speaking he flung 
his battle ax high over his shoulder, and brought it 
down upon the vase. " Thou shalt have nought 
of the booty save what the lots fairly give thee," he 
shouted. The king made no reply. 

The next spring, Clovis called his troops together 
that he might review them. As he rode down the 
line his eyes fell on the face of the warrior who 
had shattered the vase at Soissons. He stopped 
before him. " None have brought here," he cried, 
" arms so ill kept as thine. Nor lance, nor sword, 
nor battle ax is fit for service." And seizing the 
man's ax, he flung it on the ground. The man 
stooped to pick it up. As he did so, the king raised 
his own ax, and slew the warrior at his feet. " It 
shall be done to thee as thou didst to the vase of 
Soissons," said the king. 



22 



The Gauls were at first afraid of this cruel and 
fearless king, but he won their confidence by 
marrying Clotilda, a Gallic princess. Clovis had 
often heard of this princess. He knew that an 
ambitious uncle had put her parents to death, and 
had sent the beautiful Clotilda into exile. Far 
away in Geneva she was spending her days, shut up 
in a castle. She was allowed to see but few people, 
and Clovis bethought himself how he could reach 
her with a messenger. Finally he called before him 
a certain Roman, Aurelian, and bade him use his 
wits to gain entrance to the princess. 

So Aurelian dressed himself in rags and begged 
admittance at Clotilda's door. The supposed pil- 
grim was allowed to enter, and, as the princess was 
washing his feet, — for she delighted in deeds of 
charity, — -Aurelian bent forward and showed her 
the royal ring. 

" Clovis, King of the Franks," he said, " hath sent 
me to thee. If it be the will of God, he would fain 
raise thee to his high rank by marriage. And that 
thou mayst be satisfied thereof he sendeth thee this 
ring." 

Clotilda took the ring with great joy, and gave 
one of her own to the messenger to return to Clovis. 

After they were married, one thing worried the 
queen. Clovis was a barbarian and she was a 



23 

Christian. She begged him in vain to give up his 
idols for her God. One day in battle, however, when 
the Franks were being beaten, Clovis cried out in 
despair : — 

" O God, whom Clotilda calls the true God, if 
Thou wilt give me victory, I will believe in Thee ! " 




The Vow of Clovis 

The tide of battle turned, and Clovis won. 
Soon after, he and his whole army were baptized 
Christians. When Clovis walked into the church, 
which was beautifully decorated with flowers and 
fragrant with the burning incense, he asked; — 



24 

" Is this the heaven you promised me ? " 

" No," replied the bishop, " but the road leading 

to it." 

Still, the baptism was not enough to change the 
heart of Clovis. He was very cruel, and put to 
death many of the Prankish chiefs that he might be 
sole master. He died on the little island city of 
Paris, which he had chosen for his capital. 

KING DAGOBERT THE GOOD 

Clovis divided his kingdom among his three sons, 
who were as wicked and cruel as their father had 
been. When one of them died, leaving his three 
little boys in the care of their grandmother, Clotilda, 
the uncles of the children sent her a sword and a 
pair of scissors, with this message : — 

" Thy sons await thy wishes concerning the chil- 
dren. Shall they be slain or shorn ? " 

Now short hair was considered a disgrace by the 
Merovingians, who always wore their long locks 
hanging down over their shoulders. So Clotilda 
answered, sadly but proudly : — 

" Let them be slain rather than shorn." 

At this reply the uncles seized two of the little 
boys and killed them. The third escaped and was 
brought up as a priest. When he died he was 



25 

looked upon as a saint, and a pretty little village out- 
side of Paris was named after him, Saint Cloud. 

About this time, Benedict, an Italian monk, began 
to found monasteries among the hills of his own 
country, and later in France. His motto was : " It 
is honorable for a man to work with his hands." 
This teaching was a great blessing to France, for 
the lazy Frankish noblemen looked with contempt 
upon the peasants, whose hands were black and 
hard from laboring in the fields. The monasteries 
founded by the monk Benedict were called after 
him, Benedictine. They were soon filled with 
hundreds of men who flocked to them to join in 
Benedict's four great tasks, — : working, singing, 
building, and writing. 

But this was chiefly a period of wars and crimes, 
when the people of Gaul were far from being happy. 
Finally, Dagobert, a grandson of one of the cruel 
brothers of Clovis, became king, and affairs began to 
improve. He set up a splendid court at Paris, mak- 
ing friends of the nobles and giving them gifts of 
land for their homes. He reissued the Frankish 
laws, and journeyed through his land to see that 
these laws were justly administered. Thus his 
people came to know and love their king, because 
he did so much for their good. 

He delighted also in beautiful buildings. A short 



26 



distance from Paris he built an abbey, which is 
standing to-day, and named it after Saint Denis, 
who had been one of the first Christian martyrs in 

Gaul. Here in this 
church lies buried the 
good King Dagobert, 
the greatest of the 
Merovingians. 

The kings who fol- 
lowed Dagobert were 
weak and almost pow- 
erless. They lived 
in poverty - stricken 
country houses where 
they held miserable 
court. Their subjects 
seldom saw them, for 
they went out among 
the people only on 
St. Denis statc occasious, and 

then rode in a cart drawn by ,oxen and driven by a 
cowherd. They soon lost what power they had, 
because of their laziness, and bear the name in 
history of " the do-nothing kings." 




27 

PEPIN THE SHORT 

Since the Merovingians were now mere shadow 
kings, some of the more capable officers began to 
govern in their stead, under the name of Mayors of 
the Palace. At last, one of these men, Pepin, became 
ambitious to be called king, but he feared to seize 
the crown, for the people still clung to the long- 
haired Merovingians as their rulers. So Pepin sent 
this message to the Pope at Rome : — 

" Who ought to be king, — the man who is power- 
less, but who bears the name ; or he who holds not 
the name, but all the power ? " 

The Pope's answer ran : — 

" The man who holds the power ought also to 
bear the name of king." 

So the last Merovingian had his long hair cut off 
and was led sadly away to a monastery, while Pepin 
was crowned king of France with great pomp in 
the cathedral at Soissons. 

Pepin must have been a very small man, for he 
was nicknamed " Pepin the Short." The nobles 
used to make fun of him because of his size, and say 
to one another that such a little man could not be 
brave and strong. But one day the king taught 
them a lesson. He was seated with his nobles at a 
spectacle in the amphitheater, when a lion burst 



28 

forth into the arena and sprang upon a bull. Up 
rose the little king and shouted : — 

" Prankish nobles, who will separate the two 
beasts ? " 

No one moved. Pepin waited an instant, then 
rushed into the arena and, with a single blow of his 
sword, cut off the head of both the bull and the 
lion. After that no one dared laugh at his size. 

Pepin's reign was full of wars and struggles. When 
the king of the Lombards marched against Rome, 
the Pope fled in terror to Gaul. Pepin received 
him kindly, treated him with great reverence and 
promised to go with his own troops to fight the 
Pope's enemy. True to his pledge, he crossed the 
Alps and defeated the Lombards. The lands that 
the Lombards had conquered were surrendered to 
Pepin, and he, being a noble-minded king, gave them 
back to their rightful owner. A year later the 
Lombards again attacked Rome. Loudly the Pope 
called for his Prankish champion, and once more 
Pepin went into Italy and defeated the Lombards. 

Pepin found much to busy himself with in his 
own land, too. He discovered that all the schools 
had died out except those for boys who were to be- 
come priests. He found there were few laws in his 
kingdom. So he set out to improve his realm and 
bring all his people under his guidance and control. 



29 

CHARLEMAGNE 

Charles, who ruled after the death of his father, 
Pepin, was such a grand and noble king that he 
not only won for himself the name of Charlemagne, 
which means " Charles the Great," but also gave the 
name of Carlovingians to all the kings of his family 
who ruled after him. 

He spent his boyhood on one of his father's large 
estates, learning battle songs, riding off to the chase, 
and hunting the wild animals in the forests. But 
there was no school for the little Charles to attend, 
so when he grew up and became king he could 
neither read nor write. This was such a mortifi- 
cation . to him that he began to study, as a man, 
what boys and girls study nowadays. He invited 
the learned men from all the different lands to come 
to read and talk to him. He studied hard, and at 
last learned both to read and to speak Latin, and to 
read Greek. But what was hardest for him was to 
learn to write. He had little time during the day 
to practice, so he kept a tablet under his pillow and 
when he could not sleep he tried to form the letters. 
But the task proved too hard. His fingers were so 
stiff that he gave up the attempt. 

One day two Scotchmen knocked at the castle 
gate and said they had come to sell the king knowl- 



30 

edge. Charlemagne ordered them to be brought 
before him and asked what they meant. 

" Let us have," they repHed, " a schoolroom and 
some boys to teach. In return for this, you are to 
give us food and clothes." 

Charlemagne, delighted, gave them a large room 
in the palace and a number of boys, some noble- 
men's sons and some peasant lads. Just then war 
called the king away, but on his return home he at 
once bade the Scotchmen bring before him all their 
pupils, and show him the work they had accom- 
plished. The poor boys came carrying finished 
work, very well done, but the rich boys had nothing 
completed to show the king. Charlemagne turned 
to the industrious lads, his face shining with joy. 

" My children," he said, " you have done your duty. 
Go on working, and when you are men, I will give 
you lands and important offices." 

Then his face darkened as he turned to the others, 
and he cried in a stern voice : — 

" Idle young noblemen, you trusted in your 
wealth and birth, and disobeyed me. Know now 
that if you do not make up for this idleness by good 
hard work, you may never expect anything from 
me." 

Charlemagne loved justice. He punished many 
robbers, and always protected the honest people. 



He had all the old and the new laws written down, 
so that they should not be forgotten. He even had 
a great bell hung outside the castle that could be 
rung day or night, by any one demanding justice. 

There is a story that once a bony, lame old horse, 
gnawing at the moss on the gate pulled the bell and 
rang it. Charlemagne called the master of the poor 
animal before him, and leading out the horse 
said: — 

" Do you not blush to drive out into the high- 
way to die a beast that has grown old serving you ? 
Take the horse back, feed and care for him, or fear 
my wrath." 

But the king was often called away from his 
schools and courts to go to war. An old monk has 
written a description of the approach of Charle- 
magne with his army. At first it was " like a black 
cloud — but as the emperor drew nearer and nearer 
the gleam of arms caused to shine on the people 
shut up within the city a day more gloomy than 
any kind of night. And then appeared Charles 
himself, that man of steel with his head incased 
in a helmet of steel, — his hands garnished with 
gauntlets of steel, — his left arm armed with a lance 
of steel which he held aloft in the air. And what 
shall we say of his boots ? All the army were wont 
to have them of steel. His horse was of the color 



32 

and strength of steel. All those who went before 
the monarch, all those who marched at his side, all 
those who followed after, even the whole mass of his 
army, had armor of the like sort. The fields and 
highways were covered with steel ; and the points 
of steel reflected the rays of the sun ; and this steel, 
so hard, was borne by a people with hearts still 
harder. The flash of steel spread terror throughout 
the streets of the city. What steel ! Alack, what 
steel ! " 

Ever conquering, Charlemagne soon had a king- 
dom twice as large as his father's had been. In the 
year 800 he went down into Italy, as Pepin had 
done, to aid the Romans against the Lombards. 
The Pope received him at the gates of Rome, and 
Charlemagne, like a pilgrim, visited all the churches 
in the city. On Christmas Day he attended mass in 
St. Peter's, and as he was kneeling in prayer the 
Pope placed a crown on his head while all the 
people shouted : " Long live Charles Augustus, 
crowned by God the Emperor of the Romans ! " 

The last years of Charlemagne's life were spent 
in protecting the far-lying borders of his realm. 
Many were the long wars that the bordering people 
made upon him. When he felt that he was too old 
to reign longer, he called an assembly of the Franks, 
and crowned his oldest son, Louis, emperor in his 



33 




Coronation of Charlemagne 

stead. He then passed his last months in Aix-la- 
Chapelle, a city which he had founded himself and 
loved dearly. He caused great baths to be built 
here in imitation of those of the ancient Romans. 
Charlemagne was fond of swimming, and often 
invited his sons, his friends, and sometimes his 
soldiers, to come and bathe with him. There were 
often as many as five hundred people bathing 
together in the royal bath. 

Charlemagne loved the hunt, also, and after he 
had given over the cares of his kingdom to his 
son Louis, he often rode into the forest of Ardenne. 

LITTLE STORIES OF FRANCE — 3 



34 

But with winter his strength failed him. A fever 
came on and the king sank lower and lower. 

He died in 814, and was buried in his cathedral 
at Aix-la-Chapelle. 

ROLAND AND HIS GOOD SWORD DURANDAL 

Of all the knights of Charlemagne's court none 
was so well beloved by the king as Roland. He 
loved Roland not alone because he was his nephew, 
but because he was the bravest and strongest of all 
his knights. When Roland was only a squire riding 
into battle unarmed, he had shown such courage 
and strength that the king had him knighted 
upon the field. Nor did he give him on that 
day any ordinary sword, but one set with jewels, 
whose blade flashed like fire, and which bore the 
motto, cut deep into its steel, " I am Durandal, 
which the Trojan Hector wore." And as the young 
boy with his hand on the sword took the oath 
of knighthood, great was the rejoicing among the 
king's men, for all loved Roland. Only one of 
the knights, Ganelon, stood in the background, 
a dark scowl on his face. He was jealous that so 
young a lad should have golden spurs laced to his 
ankles. He was jealous of the wonderful sword, and 
jealous of the king's favor. Within his heart he 



35 

was already plotting how he could do Roland an 
injury. For years he tried in vain to bring him 
harm, for Roland could ride a horse and hurl a lance 
as no other knight. But, at last, in the old age of 
Charlemagne, Ganelon's chance came. The white- 
haired king was w^eary of war and sent Ganelon to 
the Moors to treat for peace. As the mounted 
knight rode down through Spain he turned over in 
his mind how the opportunity had now come to slay 
Roland. In his jealousy against Roland he even 
became a traitor to the king. Instead of bringing 
Charlemagne's message, these are the words he spoke 
to Marsilius the Moor. 

" Charlemagne, my mighty lord, is old. The years 
of his life are numbered. But at his side rides his 
nephew, Roland, who is to be feared above ten 
thousand men. Now send ye a great store of wealth 
to the king, with promises that at Michaelmas ye 
will come to Aix and, accepting his faith, do him 
homage for Spain. My white-haired king is tired 
of this long war. He will hear these words with 
gladness and return to France." Then Ganelon 
lowered his voice so that Marsilius alone could hear 
his words. "On the homeward march through 
the mountain passes Roland shall take the rearguard. 
A hundred thousand Moors could easily o'ercome 
him there." 



36 

These words were enough. Laden with riches 
the false knight rode back with his false promises to 
the king. 

Thus it was that in the pass of the Vale of 
Thorns, as Roland was guarding the rear line of 
march, his trusty brother-in-arms, Oliver, came to 
him, crying : — 

" Roland, Roland, blow thy horn for the king to 
come back to our aid ! The Moors are following us." 

" If battle there must be, my sword Durandal 
will protect us. Roland begs aid of no man," was 
the proud knight's reply. 

Three times Oliver besought him to wind his 
horn, and three times Roland refused. The pagan 
host swept upon them, and Roland and Oliver, giv- 
ing the war cry of Charlemagne, led their men into 
the unequal fight. Little by little the battle went 
against the French, but not until every man was 
slain did Roland blow his horn for help. The hero 
himself was wounded in a dozen places. From afar 
he heard the six hundred trumpets of Charlemagne's 
host reply to his call, but he knew he could not live 
to see the king. With' his ivory horn in one hand 
and his sword in the other, he climbed a little hill 
and lay down beneath a pine tree. As he looked 
upon the gleaming blade of his sword a great fear 
came over him lest the pagan Moors should find 



37 

and seize it. Gathering all his strength he strove 
ten times to break the steel against a mighty rock. 
The rock was shattered to atoms, but the sword was 
as bright and whole as ever. Bravely then he 
placed his true sword and horn beneath him, and lay 
down with his face towards the foe. Thus did 
Charlemagne find him and bring the dead hero's 
body and arms back to France, the country that 
he had so long and loyally served. 

Nor did Ganelon live to enjoy his triumph. He 
was riding by the king's side when the clear note of 
Roland's liorn was heard in the distance. When 
Charlemagne turned to give the order for the army 
to ride at full speed to Roland's aid, Ganelon put 
his hand on the king's rein. " Roland is but boast- 
ing of a hare that he has caught," he cried scornfully. 
The eood kino^ read the look of treason in Ganelon's 
face. He ordered his men to unarm him, and hold 
him prisoner until he should return. 

The sight that met Charlemagne's eyes in the Vale 
of Thorns convinced him of Ganelon's treachery. 
When the latter was brought before the king for 
trial Charlemagne turned to his knights : — 

" Of what punishment is he worthy who betrayed 
my kingdom for gold, and who treacherously took 
from i-ne twenty thousand of my host, and my nephew, 
the brave knight Roland .i^" 



3S 

And one word rang through the great hall, sent 
up from many throats : — 
"Death! Death! Death!" 



SEA DRAGONS FROM THE NORTH 

Charlemagne had been such a noble man and 
such a hero in war that all the different nations in 
his great empire looked up to him and admired him. 
Louis inherited his father's love of learning but 
none of his spirit in war. He looked in horror 
upon the rough, barbarous soldiers. Such an amia- 
ble and gentle king he was that his people called 
him Louis the Pious. Louis had three sons, and 
when they were old enough he gave them each a 
portion of his kingdom, for he little liked protecting 
such an immense realm as his father had left him. 
But this only brought on more wars. The sons be- 
came dissatisfied with their portions, and one by one 
they rose against their father. At last, on a great 
plain, ever since called " The Field of Lies " because 
here the three sons broke all their promises to their 
father, they defeated him in battle. The poor old 
man was led from the field into a church, and there 
forced to kneel before his wicked sons and read a 
long list of his sins. Then they tore off his royal 
armor and, dressing him in the robe of a penitent, 



39 

led him to a monastery, where he spent his few re- 
maining years. Perhaps he was happier there, Hving 
peacefully among the monks, who were the most 
learned men of their time. His sons now fell to 
fighting one another, and many years of cruel war- 
fare followed. 

Meanwhile, the people of France were being terror- 
stricken by strange looking boats, full of armed men, 
that were sailing up their rivers. 

These boats were the ships of the Norsemen. 
A good east wind, which filled out their sails, 
brought them in three days from Denmark to the 
coast of France. Sea dragons they were called, and 
sea dragons they were in very truth. As in the wild 
hordes of the Huns, horse and man seemed but one 
creature, so did the Norsemen and their peaked- 
prowed ships appear equally united. The boats 
were lightly built, and though the Norsemen lost 
many a crew in the storms, the survivors still sailed 
over the surging seas and laughed in scorn at wind 
and wave. 

Norway was the home of these wild men, but they 
had long neglected their fields to roam the sea. 
Wherever the sea could take them, there they went 
with flying sail and gleaming oar. And when 
winter came they drove their long keels ashore and 
plundered the land, 



40 

Their favorite hunting ground was England, but 
they soon discovered that another fertile country 
lay across the channel. With terror the French 
peasants now saw the Norse pirates coming upon 
them, singing strange songs about the tempest and 
the hurricanes. 

One winter, when the emperor, Charles the Fat, 
was away in Germany, seven hundred of the Norse 
boats sailed up the Seine and attacked Paris. Three 
brave captains in Paris called together the people, 
bade them fortify their walls, and be of good cheer 
for the emperor would surely come to their aid. 
Eighteen months the citizens of Paris stayed within 
their city throwing down stones, arrows, and boiling 
oil on the Norsemen. For eighteen months they 
grew thin and hollow-eyed for lack of food, and still 
they did not lose heart. Then Charles the Fat came. 
The Parisians anxiously awaited to see the royal 
troops put to flight their hated foe. But the feeble 
emperor had another plan. 

" I beg you to tell me," he said to the Norse 
leaders, " how much silver I must give you to make 
you leave the city unharmed ? " 

" Seven hundred pounds," was the reply. 

When the people of Paris heard of this, they broke 
forth in rage from their city and single handed drove 
the Norsemen from the Seine. The weak old 



41 

Emperor Charles had no desire to Hve among such 
warlike people. He went quietly back to Ger- 
many. 

The Norsemen never besieged Paris again. They 
began to settle the country at the mouth of the 
Seine, and gradually, losing their warlike ways, 
they filled their province, called Normandy, with 
cultivated fields and fortified towns. 



THE CAPETIAN KINGS 

Charles the Fat had chosen the wisest course. 
The French people were very angry because he de- 
clined to fight the Norsemen, and had their revenge 
by refusing now to own him as emperor. They 
began to look for another ruler. 

There was in France at this time many a great 
chief who lived in a strong castle built on a high 
cliff and overlooking wide valleys. In the morning 
these chiefs rode forth from their castles on pranc- 
ing horses to fight or hunt, and returned at evening 
to feast in their large dining halls. These halls 
were very long, with high walls on which hung 
the ancestral armor, and trophies won in battle. 
At one end of the room on a long platform sat the 
lady of the castle with her daughters, winding or 
spinning yarn, and near by were the minstrels with 



42 

their harps, who played and sang till the roof re- 
echoed. 

When the chief went out and walked about his 
wall, he saw hundreds of peasants' cottages below 
in his fields. These peasants had come to him 
at the time of the war with the Norsemen, and 
said : — 

" Good knight, if you will protect us from these 
terrible barbarians, we will till your fields and sow 
your grain, when you are away at war, so that your 
barns shall still be full when you return." 

And the chief had answered : — 

" So be it. If you will care for my fields, I will 
defend you from the Norsemen." 

One of the bravest of these chiefs was Hugh 
Capet, so the French chose him now as king. Al- 
though a brilliant soldier, Hugh Capet was very 
modest. He felt he was no wiser than the other 
chiefs, even though he was king, so he was very 
kind to every one and ruled quietly but well. 

His son, Robert, was like the weak son of Charle- 
magne. He was a good-natured fellow, caring little 
for war, but fond of singing, and fonder still of 
his books. One day while at mass, he saw a priest 
come in and steal the silver candlesticks on the 
altar. The king was foolish enough to cry out : — 

" Friend Ogger, run for your life before you are 



43 

discovered. Here is money enough to help you on 
your way." 

Another time when he had some poor men come 
in and eat at his feet he discovered, after they were 
gone, that one had cut a golden ornament from his 
robe. The queen was very angry, but Robert only 
laughed and said : — ■ 

" Poor fellow, he needed it more than I." 
These stories show us that he was by no means 
the kind of man to make a wise king. He lacked 
the vigor and power to make France a great country. 
The chiefs were incessantly fighting one another, so 
that the homes of the peasants were constantly 
plundered and burned. Robert did not try to stop 
this petty warfare. Then as the year looo was 
approaching many people feared that the end of 
the world was coming. Many sold their lands or 
gave them away to the church. Some went on 
pilgrimages to the Holy Land. Many thought they 
saw strange sights in the heavens. All France was 
in confusion. 

THE CRUSADES 

It was customary for a man in those days, if he 
were in great danger, to vow that if God preserved 
him in safety, he would go on a pilgrimage to some 
holy shrine where lay the bones of a blessed saint. 



44 



The holiest shrine of all was at Jerusalem, — the 
Holy Sepulcher where Christ had been buried. It 
was a long way to go, for the pilgrims had to travel 

mostly afoot, or on 
mules, but still many 
men in those days 
were wont to take up 
the staff, and, putting 
on the cloak of a pil- 
grim, make their long 
and wearisome way 
to this sacred spot. 

But one day the 
news reached Europe 
that the pagan Turks 
had captured the 
Holy City, so it was 
no longer safe for 
pilgrims to go there. 
Later, word came that 
the Turks were dese- 
crating the holy 
shrine. The Pope was 

Taking the Crusader's Vow greatly trOublcd and 

called a large meeting at Clermont in Auvergne. 
Thither Christians rushed from various countries. 
Many had to come from afar and pass through 




45 

strange lands whose language they could not 
speak, but if ever they wished to inquire the way 
they needed but to form the cross with their fingers, 
and old and young, rich and poor, knew whither 
they were bound. 

At this great meeting at Clermont there was a 
pilgrim who had just returned from Jerusalem. He 
was a short, thin-faced little man, dressed in rough 
garments, but when he began to speak and the light 
came into his bead-like eyes, the crowd was breath- 
less, and when he ceased speaking they cried : — 

" It is the will of God that we go to capture the 
Holy City from the Turks ! " 

Many rushed forward, on the spot, and had their 
shoulders marked with a cross, made of two strips 
of cloth, which was a sign that they promised to go 
to Jerusalem and fight against the infidels. Peter 
the Hermit, for that was the name of the enthusi- 
astic pilgrim, traveled through the land, drawing 
crowds about him wherever he spoke, and gathering 
many followers. At length, under his leadership, 
the crowd of zealous pilgrims started to win back 
their great shrine, the Holy Sepulcher. 

There were hundreds of men, women and chil- 
dren in this crusade. Peasants, workmen, priests 
and whole families started without arms and with- 
out provisions. The poor little children found the 



46 

journey very long and tiresome. Every time they 
saw the tall spires of a city in the distance, they 
turned anxiously to their fathers or mothers asking : 

" Isn't that Jerusalem ? " 

Some of the farmers had hitched their oxen to 
carts, so their wives and children could ride, but 
most of the crusaders had to go afoot. Many there 
were who died, worn out by the hardships of the 
way, or from sickness. None of those who had 
started out so bravely ever reached the Holy City. 

But the next year a grand army of crusaders 
set out, led by Godfrey of Bouillon, and although 
many perished on the way, a large number came 
safely to Jerusalem and started to attack the infidels. 
The Turks made a brave defense. From the tops of 
their walls they poured down a mixture of burning 
oil and sulphur upon the heads of the besiegers. 
Jerusalem was taken only after a siege of five 
weeks. The crusaders rushed into the Holy City 
and began to kill all the Turks there. It is said 
the horses were stained with blood up to their knees. 
Godfrey tried to restrain his people, but they paid 
no heed to his commands. Then he threw down 
his arms, and fell on his knees before the Holy 
Sepulcher bewailing the hard-heartedness of the 
crusaders w^ho called themselves Christians. When 
they saw Godfrey's anguish they began to feel 



47 

ashamed of themselves. They dismounted, washed 
off the blood from their armor, climbed the hill of 
Calvary on foot, and knelt before the tomb where 
Christ had lain. 

When the council was held to see who should be 
king of Jerusalem, Godfrey was chosen, but he re- 
fused to be crowned. 

" I am unworthy to wear a crown of gold, when 
Christ wore a crown of thorns," he said. 

This was the first great crusade in history. 

THE FRENCH CHILDREN'S CRUSADE 

One summer afternoon long ago, in these days of 
crusades, a little shepherd lad was sitting on the hill- 
side watching his sheep. A tiny lamb had just wan- 
dered from the fold and the boy had chased it and 
brought it back safely to its mother. Hot and 
breathless from his long run, he threw himself down 
on the cool grass in the shade and shut his eyes. 
When he opened them again he found a stranger 
bending over him. He wore a long cloak about his 
shoulders, sandals laced across his bare feet, and 
carried a staff in his hand. 

The shepherd boy sprang to his feet. He had 
heard about the crusades, but he had never before 
seen a real pilgrim. 



48 

" Good lad," the old man at last spoke, " can you 
tell me where I can get a bite of food ? I have come 
a long way and am faint with hunger." 

Stephen, for that was the shepherd boy's name, 
opened his leathern wallet and drew forth a piece of 
dry bread and some cheese. "Take my supper," he 
cried, " for I am not hungry. But tell me, have you 
really been on a crusade, and have you truly seen 
Jerusalem ? " 

The pilgrim sat down on the grass beside the 
boy, and ate the bread and cheese silently. But 
when he had finished he turned to Stephen. — Yes, 
he had been on a crusade, and he told the boy all 
about it. As he spoke of the Holy City and 
the fighting with the Turks, the boy's eyes grew 
large and bright with excitement. The pilgrim 
then drew nearer and put his arm on Stephen's 
shoulder. 

" My lad," he said slowly, " I am come here not 
to tell you of my life but of yours. You have been 
called to preach a children's crusade. You shall 
gather the children of France together and lead 
them to Jerusalem. This is the will of God." 

Then picking up his staff he left a very much 
astonished little shepherd boy sitting on the hillside. 
But Stephen did not sit there long. He soon ran 
home to tell his bewildered parents the strange 



49 

story. The next morning he began to preach to 
the children in the village. 

But Stephen soon decided to leave the little 
village and go to Paris. You will remember the 
church of Saint Denis, the patron saint of Paris. It 
was here, in this church, that Dagobert and all the 
French kings that came after him had been buried. 
Here, too, was kept the sacred oriflamme, the holy 
flag of the French realm. And here it was that the 
twelve year old Stephen, his shepherd's crook in his 
hand, and his wallet at his side, began preaching the 
Children's Crusade. 

Never had there been such excitement among 
the children of any land. Other lads sprang up 
in other villages to preach the same Children's 
Crusade. Young nobles came from their castles, 
and peasant children from the hay fields to form 
in bands to march to Palestine. At their head 
went a youth carrying a flag made like the ori- 
flamme, the symbol of Saint Denis. Vendome was 
the gathering place selected by Stephen, and in June 
some fifteen hundred boys and girls were found there 
ready for the crusade. Many of their fathers and 
mothers, with tears in their eyes, begged the children 
to come back to their homes, but the children 
pointed to the red crosses on their shoulders, and 
replied, " God wills it." 

LITTLE STORIES OF FRANCE — 4 



50 

So finally the day dawned when the crusade 
should start. Stephen rode at the head of the ranks 
in a chariot, with a canopy to keep off the sun. An 
escort of noble youths rode at his side to guard him, 
and to carry out his commands. But most of the 
children came afoot, carrying flags and singing 
hymns as they marched. It was a terrible crusade. 
The children were not used to the long days of 
tramping in the hot sun, and many hundred of them 
died along the way. They were journeying toward 
Marseilles where Stephen had seen in a vision that 
the Lord would open up a dry way for them across 
the sea. In vain thev watched the blue water for 
this path to open. At length two merchants offered 
to take them in their ships. Great was the rejoic- 
ing now. "This was what the vision had meant," 
Stephen cried. God would protect them and bring 
them to the Holy Land. 

Amid singing and flying of banners the children 
embarked in the seven vessels. The wind filled the 
white sails and thousands of French boys and girls 
waved farewell to their native land. 

How little they dreamed that they were in reality 
saying farewell, never to return. A terrible storm 
arose and two of the vessels were wrecked off the 
coast of Italy and went down with all on board. 
The others sailed madly on, but not to Jerusalem. 



51 

The merchants who owned the ships were slave 
.dealers. They bore the innocent children to the 
coast of Africa, and there sold them all into slavery. 
Not one came to the Holy Land. Not one re- 
turned to France. Did Stephen drown at sea or 
was he sold into slavery ? No one knows. This 
was the sad story of the French Children's Crusade. 

LOUIS THE YOUNG 

The French king, Louis VI, did not go on cru- 
sades. He took advantage of the fact that his 
powerful neighbors and nobles were away to estab- 
lish peace and justice within his own kingdom. He 
put to death robbers and highwaymen, and aided the 
peasants until the people came to look upon him as 
their champion. So, slowly, the idea of kingship 
rose in the minds of the people, and the king became 
for them a great example of a brave, generous knight. 
Louis VI also strengthened his kingdom by marry- 
ing his son, afterwards Louis VII, to Eleanor of 
Aquitaine, the little daughter of one of his richest 
and strongest nobles. When the king returned to 
Paris after this wedding, he was taken ill and died, 
so the bride and groom found themselves king and 
queen. 

This young monarch had been brought up by the 



52 

monks and he always cared more for his church 
than for his kingdom. Early in his reign, while he 
was besieging an enemy's tower, he found that his 
soldiers had burned down a church whither many 
women and children had fled for refuge. The cries 
of the suffocating people rang in the ears of the 
king night and day, until he finally decided that he 
would make atonement for this awful deed by a 
crusade. When Louis' minister, Suger, a very 
wise man, heard that the king had made this vow, 
he was much troubled, for he knew that Louis was 
sadly needed at home in his own kingdom. He 
might have persuaded Louis to give up the crusade 
had not a zealous monk, Saint Bernard, just at this 
time been fired with the desire to go to the Holy 
Land. This monk was even more eloquent than 
Peter the Hermit. He not only aroused the people 
in his own land, but also journeyed throughout 
Germany where the people could not understand 
his words, but were kindled with enthusiasm from 
the light in his eyes and the ring in his voice. The 
king, in spite of all Suger's wise words, could not 
resist the magnetic Saint Bernard. On Easter Day, 
1 1 46, the monk preached before the king and 
queen, and many of their knights and nobles. 
When the words died from his lips the whole as- 
sembly sprang to their feet crying : " Crosses ! 



53 

Crosses ! " Some of them even tore strips from 
their clothes and laid them crossed on their 
shoulders. 

So another great crusade was started. Its story 
is full of sadness and disappointments. The queen 
was not content to go without carrying with her all 
her fine robes, her waiting women, her jesters, and 
her minstrels. It was a queer looking band of pil- 
grims that came from the palace to join the crusades. 
But the queen and her company did not stay long 
with them. She wearied of the tedious journey and 
declared that she could not love Louis, since he was 
more a monk than a king. So she left him and 
later the Pope freed her from her marriage. 

Meanwhile Louis and his army of men, women, 
and children, who were footsore and sick, dragged 
themselves slowly across the land. At length they 
came to a seaport where some vessels were waiting 
to carry them to Jerusalem. But, alas ! there were 
not ships enough. Louis and his nobles set sail, 
leaving the rest to come as best they might. Thus 
the king and his handful of followers were the only 
ones who reached the Holy City. And what could 
they do when they got there ? Nothing but offer 
prayers, for their army was too small to fight. Louis 
came back a degraded, miserable old man, only to 
find new troubles awaiting him at home. His 



54 

former queen had married Henry II, King of Eng- 
land, and she was only too glad to stir up quarrels 
between him and Louis. 

When Louis the Young died, he might better 
have been called Louis the Old, for he had reigned 
fifty years. He left one little son whom he had 
named Philip, the Gift of God. 

PHILIP, THE GIFT OF GOD 

One day, soon after Philip Augustus, the fifteen 
year old king began to reign, his nobles found him 
sitting in his garden gazing straight before him. 
When they asked him of what he was thinking so 
deeply, he replied at once : — 

" I am wondering if I can ever raise France to 
the height she attained in the days of Charle- 
magne." 

This was his great ambition during all his reign. 
But he did not merely thmk about it ; he went to 
work first to make the city of Paris more beautiful 
and more healthful. He widened and paved the 
streets, which before had been mere gutters. He 
founded hospitals, and began to build the cathedral 
of Notre Dame. 

He carried on wars, too, with enemies who threat- 
ened to take away parts of his kingdom, but so sue- 



55 

cessfully did these wars end that Philip's kingdom 
was increased thereby. 

Then came the word, spreading like wildfire, 
throughout Europe, that Jerusalem was again at- 
tacked by infidels. A third crusade was started. 
The German emperor went with his army. Richard, 
King of England, called the " Lion-hearted," joined 
him, and persuaded Philip to raise an army and go 
too. But as they traveled on from day to day; 
Philip's thoughts were not on the Holy City, but on 
his own city of Paris and his beloved France. He 
longed to go back to her. At last the opportunity 
came. He and Richard had a quarrel and refused 
to -go further together, so Philip himself left the cru- 
sade and came home. His army, however, marched 
on with the rest and fought bravely for Jerusalem. 
Philip disliked Richard and the English so heartily 
that he probably would have made war upon Eng- 
land, had not the Pope made him promise that he 
would not attack that country while her king was 
on a crusade. Philip, however, did all that he could 
to prevent Richard from returning. He made 
friends with John, Richard's brother, who was 
regent of England while Richard was away, and 
tried his best to make him hate his brother. Later, 
when Richard was taken prisoner by the Duke of 
Austria, Philip even sent money to the duke to 



56 

keep Richard in prison longer. But the English 
people ransomed their king and he came home to 
wage war with Philip. 

It was not a long war, for Richard was shot by 
an arrow while besieging a French castle. John, 
Philip's friend, now became king of England., But 
Philip no longer held him as friend. He knew John 
was weak and cowardly and so he continued the 
war, hoping to win back the provinces that Eleanor 
had given England when she forsook Louis the 
Young and married the English monarch. Philip's 
hopes were fulfilled. John was no fighter, so Nor- 
mandy, Brittany, Maine, and parts of Anjou and 
Touraine, once more became French provinces. 

Still Philip was not content with the size of his 
country. This time he went to war with Flanders 
and the German emperor, who had been troubling 
his border lands. The great battle in this war took 
place at Bouvines. 

Before this battle Philip drew up his whole army 
and had the priests say mass. Then, when Philip 
rose from his knees, he took the crown from his 
head and placing it on the altar said : — 

" My counts and my barons, if you believe this 
crown would be better worn by any of you, I will 
gladly give it up." 

Shout after shout went up for the noble Philip 



57 

Augustus, King of France, and the troops went into 
battle, ready to win or die for him. The victory 
that day was for the French and their brave leader. 
The German emperor fled from the field, leaving 
behind his beautiful war chariot, and the troops of 
the enemy were all put to rout. 

Philip's return to Paris was one long triumphal 
march. From all the churches as he passed came 
the chants of the priests giving praises to God for the 
great victory of the French ; from the towers sounded 
the bells, and the streets reechoed with the beating 
of drums. The houses were hung with tapestries 
and banners. The roads were strewn with green 
branches and fresh flowers, and the people crowded 
to the roadside to see their king pass by. At Paris 
a great number of priests and scholars came to meet 
him, singing songs of thanksgiving. Never was 
Philip prouder or happier than as he moved along, 
at the head of the procession, through the beautiful 
streets of his capital. The joyful crowd passed on 
to the new cathedral of Notre Dame, where a Te 
Deum celebrated Philip's victory, for w^hich all 
France had fought and was now rejoicing. 

Thus, while Philip never increased his kingdom 
to the size of Charlemagne's, still he enlarged it, 
built many schools and public buildings, beautified 
Paris, and won the love of his people. 



58 



SAINT LOUIS (IX) 

The son of Philip Augustus died after a very 
short reign, so Philip's Httle grandson Louis, a lad 
of only eleven years, became king. But as he 
was too young to reign, his mother, Blanche of 
Castile, a very beautiful and wise woman, ruled 
for him. 

" Beware, my boy," she often said to the small 
king, "of ever doing or saying anything that you 
would be ashamed to have the whole world know." 

She often called together Louis, his three small 
brothers, and their little playmates, and taught them 
herself. She told them many stories. Some were 
about the good men and women in the Bible ; some 
about the brave knights that had fought for Jeru- 
salem, and then again stories about the great kings 
who had governed their own dear France. So Louis 
grew up filled with the desire to be as good and 
noble a king as Charlemagne, and his own grand- 
father, Philip Augustus. 

Soon after he began to reign himself, Louis was 
taken very seriously ill. The whole land was thrown 
into mourning, for they feared that their good young 
king would die. But finally Louis opened his eyes, 
and asked for the cross. He was. so weak that he 
could not do more than hold it in his trembling 



59 




Louis IX giving Alms 



6o 

fingers, but his mother understood. The tears 
came into her eyes, for she knew that Louis had 
made a vow that he would go to the Holy Land if 
God gave him his health again. 

Louis did get well and remembered his vow. 
But he did not wish to go on the crusade . alone. 
Finally he made his three brothers promise to go 
with him. Still he was not satisfied. 

At length he devised a scheme to get his nobles 
to accompany him on the crusade. It was custom- 
ary on Christmas Day for the king to give each of 
his courtiers a new cloak. So, the night before 
Christmas, Louis bade them all come to early mass 
the next day, and receive their gift then. Very early 
Christmas morning, while it was still dark, the king 
led the way into the dimly lighted church. Follow- 
ing came all the courtiers, and each one as he 
entered had a new cloak thrown over his shoulders. 
As the mass continued, the day began to break. 
The first rays of the sun that streamed in through 
the stained glass windows on the kneeling courtiers, 
showed them that each one had a red cross sewn on 
the sleeve of his new cloak. At first they were 
angry, but their love for their king was so great 
that many of them promised to go with him. 

Louis and his army sailed for Egypt, for the Sul- 
tan of that country was now master over Jerusalem. 



6i 

At first the French were victorious, but soon they 
found that they had something worse than the 
armies to fight. The pestilence, a terrible disease 
common in warm countries, broke out among the 
French troops. They could not fight longer, so 
many were taken prisoners, and many died of 
the sickness. Louis went around the camp 
himself, caring for the sick with his own hands. 
His calm, sweet face brought cheer wherever he 
went, and bound his men to him more strongly 
every day. In the midst of these disasters, he him- 
self was taken prisoner. When France heard of 
this, hundreds of poor serfs and peasants started 
afoot to go and free their king. But long before 
they reached Egypt, the wiser people in France had 
ransomed Louis by raising a large sum of money. 
They hoped that their king would now come back 
to them, but Louis thought he had done so little 
that he was ashamed to face his people. He went 
on to Palestine with the poor remnant of his army, 
and for four years was busy rebuilding the walls of 
cities that the Turks had destroyed, and freeing many 
Christians who had been made slaves. At last the 
news of his mother's death called him home. He 
had made his crusade, but had refused to look upon 
Jerusalem, for he thought that a Christian king was 
not worthy to approach the city unless he could 



62 

deliver it from the enemies of God. On his return 
to Paris, he caused the beautiful little Sainte-Cha- 
pelle to be erected as a shrine to contain the sacred 
relics he had brought back with him from the Holy 
Land. 

For sixteen years, now, Louis stayed at home, rul- 
ing wisely and justly. He could not bear to have 
the poorest of his subjects treated with injustice, so 
he founded many courts. There was a large oak tree 
near his palace at Vincennes, and in the summer he 
was often found sitting beneath this tree, judging 
the cases of any who wished to come to him. He 
also gave back many lands that former kings had 
taken unjustly. Justice was Louis' motto. He 
never made war with England* and Germany, but 
tried instead to win the affection of their rulers. 
So largely did he succeed in this that foreign kings 
often sent their disputes to him to settle. Is it to 
be wondered at that the French loved their noble 
king and called him Saint Louis ? 

But although Louis remained quietly at home all 
these years, he had always worn the cross on his 
shoulder. His nobles knew that this meant that he 
thought his vow unfulfilled. At last he started on 
another crusade. The history of this sad journey 
reads very much like that of Saint Louis' first cru- 
sade. The awful pestilence came again upon the 



63 

army, this time attacking Louis himself. He knew 
he .was dying, so he called his son Philip to his 
bedside and said to him: — 

" My son, above all things love God, and try to 
please him. Be good to the poor. Be just to every 
one. Never neglect your people. Farewell, my 
child." 

So ended the crusades, with the death of the last 
royal crusader. 

THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR 

The kings that ruled after Saint Louis were 
neither good nor wise, but they married rich prin- 
cesses and were successful in war, so they made 
France larger and stronger. Suddenly there was 
great alarm in the land. The king had died, leaving 
only daughters, and there was a law in France that 
no woman should govern the kingdom. So the 
nobles gave the crown to a cousin of the late king, 
Philip VI of Valois. But the king of England, 
whose mother was a French princess, began to call 
himself " King of France," and this led to a terrible 
war that lasted for a hundred years. 

The first great battle was at Crecy. There, on 
a grassy hillside, the English had encamped, and 
Philip, when he heard of it, came marching hurriedly 



64 



against them. As the French were ap- 
proaching the EngHsh, a fearful storm arose. 
The sun was ecHpsed. Great flocks of 
crows flew overhead in the 
sudden darkness. 
Presently the 
clouds cleared ^4 
away 




An Episode in the Hundred Years' 
War 

and the sun shone forth, dazzling 
the eyes of the French. In spite of this 
Philip cried out : — 

" Let the Genoese archers go first and begin the 
battle, in the name of God and Saint Denis ! " 

But the Genoese were tired from their long march, 
and their bowstrings were so wet that they could 
not stretch them. Meanwhile the English bowmen 
came forward, fresh from their encampment and with 
dry strings, for they had hidden them in their hel- 
mets during the storm. They let their arrows fly so 
thick and fast that they fell upon the French like 
hail. The Genoese, dismayed, cut their strings and 
fled. Philip, in anger, ordered his army to advance 
and slay these cowards. Great was the confusion. 



65 

The end was a terrible defeat for the French. The 
king was hurried off the field in the night and rode 
with five men back to the castle, where he woke the 
warden with the loud cry : — 

" Open to the unfortunate king of France ! " 




Siege of Calais 

Edward III, the English king, next led his army 
against a French coast town, Calais. The people of 
Calais shut their gates and refused to surrender. 
The English king then began a siege, and soon 
a little village grew up all around the wall of Calais, 



LITTLE STORIES OF FRANCE — 5 



66 

where Edward and his army Hved for ten long 
months. The food in the city grew less and less 
every day. The people hoped and prayed that 
their king would come and save them, but Philip 
had no army left after the battle of Crecy. At last 
the men of Calais sent word to Edward that they 
would surrender. 

"Then," said the English monarch, "let six of 
the chief citizens come to my camp, wearing halters 
round their necks, and bringing m'e the keys of the 
castle and the town." 

Six of the brave men of the besieged city came 
forth as the king had ordered and, kneeling before 
him, begged for the lives of the people of Calais. 
But Edward was very angry because they had re- 
sisted him so long, and he swore that every one of 
them should be put to death. At this, even Ed- 
ward's nobles, who were standing around, felt some 
pity for the miserable men of Calais, who were thin 
and pale as ghosts,, and their faces drawn with sor- 
row, as they listened to the king. Edward alone 
sat unmoved, even after the six men had begged 
him : — 

" Noble king, for God's sake refrain ! You are 
called a generous sovereign. Forbear from doing 
this thing which shall blemish your renown." 

The king, angrier than ever, called loudly for 



67 

the hangman. Then the queen sprang from her 
seat beside the king, and knelt with the men. 
There were tears streaming down her face, as she 
pleaded in her soft voice : — 

" Gentle sir ! Since I crossed the sea in great 
peril to come to you, I have asked for nothing. 
Now I beseech you, for the love of me, that you 
will have mercy on these men of Calais ! " 

The king waited a moment, deep in thought, and 
then replied : — 

" Dame, I would you had been in another place 
than here to-day. Your request is such that I can- 
not deny it. Take them and do with them as is 
your pleasure." 

So the queen ordered them to come to her cham- 
ber, gave them new clothes, set before them food 
and drink, and when they had eaten told them that 
they were free. 

About this time a terrible plague, called the Black 
Death, broke out in France. Five hundred people 
a day died in the hospitals of Paris. A truce was 
now signed between England and France. Edward, 
glad of the peace, went home, counting himself the 
victor, and still calling himself the king of France. 
Philip died soon after, having had a reign that was 
nothing but one long war. 



68 



KING JOHN, THE ROYAL HOSTAGE 

War with England was resumed, however, when 
John, Philip's son, came to the throne. John thought 
himself a brave, noble knight, so he gathered an 
army about him and set forth to attack the English 
king, his son the Prince of Wales, and their soldiers, 
who were all encamped upon a rough hillside near 
Poitiers. Here he could easily have captured them 
all by besieging them, for no retreat was possible. 
But John wished for the glory of a battle. He drew 
up his line and advanced upon the enemy. The hill 
proved a defence for the English, and they had a 
noble leader in the fearless Black Prince, so called 
from the color of his armor. 

From the first the English were successful and 
at the close of the battle they even took John 
prisoner. 

"Take me to my cousin, the prince," he requested, 
and his captor led him to the commander's tent. 
The Black Prince treated the conquered king roy- 
ally. At dinner he himself served John. But this 
could not make the French forget the bitterness of 
their defeat. 

When the English ships bore their great French 
prisoner to London, John's son, Charles, became re- 
gent. He was called Charles the Wise, but he was 



69 

really very foolish. He had always been a sickly 
boy, and indulgence had made him cowardly and 
fond of pleasure. He loved ease, wealth, and com- 
fort, and knew little how to help a land laid waste 
by w^ar. The country was full of bands of lawless 
men, called free lances, who lived by stealing and 
plundering. Many of the inhabitants were poor and 
homeless, and worn out by this continued warfare. 

Finally King John, who was still a prisoner in 
England, came to terms of peace with Edward, but 
the treaty gave so much French land to England 
that Charles the Regent refused to agree to it. 
He put the matter before some of his nobles and 
they, too, were unwilling to make peace at such a 
price. 

When this answer came to King Edward, he was 
very angry and at once began to prepare for war. 
He sent over armies into France, and money to 
hire the free lances. Charles could not raise an 
army because he had no men. All he could do was 
to strengthen the fortifications of the land and wait 
for the English to tire themselves out. He himself 
stayed quietly at Paris. 

King Edward marched through the land finding 
little food for his men and no French army to do 
battle with. He besieged the large city of Rheims, 
where he had hoped to be crowned king of France, 



70 



but the city held out, and Edward was obliged 
to inarch away unsuccessful. Soon after this he 
again treated for peace, and, although the French 
lost much of their finest land, the news that peace 

was signed with Eng- 
land caused great joy 
in Paris. Edward re- 
fused to free John, 
however, until a large 
sum of ransom money 
was paid. The French 
people were too poor 
to raise the required 
amount, but, finally, 
an Italian lord prom- 
ised to pay the money 
in return for the hand 
of John's daughter 
in marriage with his 
son. The bargain 
was made, and John 
again became king of 
France. 

But, although the war was ended, the free com- 
panies still wandered through the land terrifying 
the people. John tried in vain to stop thera. He 
was just on the point of starting a crusade, Hoping 




French Soldier in the Hundred Years" 
War 



71 

to take these restless fighters along with him, when 
he heard that his second son, Louis, left as a hostage 
with the English, had run away, and refused to 
return. John felt it his duty as king to take the 
place of the prince. His friends entreated him to 
remain in France, but John replied nobly : — 

" Where should honor find a resting-place, if not 
in the heart of a king ? " 

So he again gave into Charles' hands the worries 
and troubles of his kingdom and returned a state 
prisoner to the English court. There he was hos- 
pitably received by the English monarch and kindly 
treated during the short time he lived. 

When he died, Charles the Regent became 
Charles V of France. 

BERTRAND DU GUESCLIN, THE DIAMOND 
IN THE ROUGH 

When Charles the Regent heard that he was 
king of France, he realized that he must now be- 
come a man of action. He straightened up, threw 
back his shoulders and resolved to do his best for 
his country. He met the troubles John had be- 
queathed him face to face. War with the Black 
Prince of England was pending. The free lances 
were increasing daily and riding recklessly through 



72 

the land. Many a king would have thought that he 
himself, whether a good soldier or not, should stand 
at the head of his army. Charles was wiser. He 
knew he was sickly and had no knowledge of war- 
fare, so he set out to find the ablest soldier in the 
land to be his general. He found this man among 
the free lances, a brave knight, Bertrand du Guesclin. 

Before Du Guesclin was born his mother had a 
very singular dream. She dreamed that she held in 
her lap a jewel box in which there was on one side 
a big piece of rough rock and on the other three 
sparkling diamonds, three green emeralds and three 
cream white pearls. She tried again and again to 
take out the rough stone and throw it away, lest 
it injure the other jewels. But try as she might 
she could never get it out of the case. Then she 
began to polish it. Great was her surprise to see 
how bright it became. At last she saw that it was a 
diamond, the largest and most brilliant gem in the 
box. In the morning she remembered the dream 
and wondered what it meant, but no one could tell 
her. 

Soon afterwards her oldest boy, Bertrand, was 
born, and after him many other brothers and sisters. 
Of them all, Bertrand, with his red hair and dark 
skin, was the homeliest and most quarrelsome. One 
day when he had been teasing his brothers and 



73 

sisters, his mother would not let him come to the 
table, but made him eat his dinner in a corner by 
himself. The sulky Bertrand grew angrier and 
angrier. Finally he jumped from his chair and, 
running to the table, sprang upon it, breaking gob- 




The Disobedient Bertrand 

lets and plates and spilling the soup and the wine. 
" I won't sit in the corner by myself. I want to 
sit here," he cried, dancing and jumping about the 
table. 

His mother wept "and wrung her hands. What 
should she do with this boy ? At last she went to 
a nun. Sister Martha, and told her about her willful 



74 

son. Sister Martha came to see the lad, and asked 
him to show her his hand. Then she looked 
straight into Bertrand's eyes, and said slowly: "You 
will grow up to be a wise and good man. No one 
in the kingdom of France shall be more honored 
than you." 

Then Bertrand's mother thought of her dream 
and told it to Sister Martha. " Those jewels," 
replied the nun, " are your children, your nine sons 
and daughters. And," she continued, laying her 
hand on Bertrand's shoulder, "this is the rough stone, 
that when it is polished shall shine most of all." 

From this time Bertrand decided to learn to be a 
soldier, that he might some day fight for France. 
He formed a troop of his playmates, and together 
they besieged all the old houses in the town. He 
learned to read, too, for he wanted to know the 
stories of C^sar, of Clovis and of Charlemagne. 
He learned to draw a bow, to break a lance, to use 
a sword, and to ride the most fiery horse. He knew 
no fear, and his reckless deeds made him the dread 
of the whole neighborhood. 

One day Bertrand heard an exciting piece of news. 
A great wedding was to take place in the town and 
afterwards a tournament. At last he should be able 
to see a real combat. But keen disappointment was 
in store for him. His father rode forth to the jousts 



75 

with all his horsemen, leaving Bertrand at home. 
"The boy is still too young," he had said. His 
eyes swimming with tears, Bertrand wandered out 
into the empty stable. One bony old horse was 
left in his stall. The boy dashed away his tears, 




Bertrand rides off to the Tournament 

flung a bridle about the horse's neck, and put on 
some rusty armor. Amid the jeers of the villagers 
and the "barking of the dogs he rode off to the 
tournament. 

As he drew near the field he pulled his visor 
down over his face so that no one should recognize 
him. For a long time he sat astride his old horse, 



76 




The Knights in the Lists 

watching the knights on the field. But at length 
he could sit still no longer. The flashing swords 
set his blood on fire. There was a knight beside 
him riding a noble charger, and Bertrand begged 
him to let him borrow the horse that he might enter 
the lists. The earnestness of the boy's voice won 
the knight's heart, and a few moments later Bertrand 
was charging down the field. 

When the tournament ended the heralds raised 
their horns and proclaimed that an unknown knight 
had conquered twelve times. The crowds gathered 
about the unknown victor and besought him to 
raise his visor. It was little Bertrand du Guesclin. 



77 

From that day Bertrand du Guesclin was a sol- 
dier. He joined the free lances, and in their ranks 
the king found him when he wanted a brave leader 
for his army. 



DU GUESCLIN FIGHTS FOR FRANCE 

Du Guesclin was very proud to be the friend of 
the king and the leader of the French army. He 
went bravely into battle, and fought nobly and well. 
But the English had an even better general. The 
first time Du Guesclin met the English army he 
r ^ .^=vrss^ =s=_ —ss^ was not only defeated but taken 
! prisoner as well. Charles knew 
he could not afford to lose his 
best soldier, so he paid the 
large ransom demanded with- 




The Free Lances 



78 

out a word of complaint. The war with England 
was declared over. 

Charles saw that now his kingdom would be 
harassed by the free lances. He called Du Guesclin 
to him and together they formed a plan to rid the 
country of these wild companies. Du Guesclin was 
to lead them all into Spain to take part in a civil 
war that was raging there. The free lances knew 
Du Guesclin and were delighted to fight in his 
army. Charles must have drawn a long sigh of 
relief when the sound of drums and the tramping 
of feet died away in the distance, and he knew that 
the free lances were marching out of France. 

Success seemed truly to court Du Guesclin, until 
one fatal day the English came to help the defeated 
party in Spain. Du Guesclin met them and was 
again taken prisoner. After he had been in cap- 
tivity some time, he was taken before the Black 
Prince. 

" I have decided," said the prince to Du Guesclin, 
" not to release you until the war is over." 

Du Guesclin bowed his head. " I am honored," 
he replied. " I see now how greatly the English 
fear me." 

The face of the prince darkened, as he retorted, 
" I will set you free at once, without ransom, for I 
esteem you, Du Guesclin, but I do not fear you." 



79 

" And I,'' answered Du Guesclin, no less proudly, 
" will take my freedom, but not without paying a 
ransom of ten thousand francs." 

" How will you, a soldier knight, raise such a sum 
of money ? " asked the prince, amazed. 

" The king of France will give me money," Du 
Guesclin made reply. " There are a hundred lords 
in Brittany who will gladly sell their land to free 
me. And if that is not sufficient, every daughter of 
France will spin a distaff full for my ransom." 

So Du Guesclin was set free. 

From this moment success was with the French. 
The English soldiers sickened in the hot climate of 
Spain. The Spanish for whom they had fought 
refused to pay them. The Black Prince fell ill. 
Charles saw that the moment had come to drive the 
English from his land. Du Guesclin once more set 
out against them. But this time he knew better 
than to risk an open battle. He simply starved the 
English out. The Black Prince was so ill that at 
the beginning of the war he was carried in a litter. 
Before the war closed he had to return to England, 
where he died. 

On and on the French advanced, driving the Eng- 
lish before them, or starving them out of their 
strongholds. While Du Guesclin was laying siege 
to one of these castles he fell ill of a fever and died. 



8o 

The English captain had promised to surrender on 
a certain day, if no help came. The day came and 
he scanned the horizon in vain. At night he rode 
out to the French lines and said that he surrendered 
to Du Guesclin. 

" Du Guesclin is dead," was the reply. 

When the English captain heard this he asked to 
be taken to the tent of the dead general. He 
entered reverently, fell on his knees before the bier 
and laid the keys of his castle on Du Guesclin's 
breast. 

" I surrender to Du Guesclin," he repeated. 

Charles V was so grieved when he heard of the 
death of his great general that he had him buried in 
the Abbey of Saint Denis, among the kings of 
France. He chose another general, who carried on 
the war until the English were forced to give up 
all that they claimed in France, except a few towns. 
Soon after Charles V died. 

He had ruled quietly but well, and fully deserved 
his title, " Charles the Wise." 



8i 



CHARLES VI, THE MAD KING 

Charles V, on his death bed, called his brothers 
to him and bade them take care of the young 
Prince Charles, who was about to succeed him. 
" He is only a boy of twelve," he said, " and there 
is great need that he have good training and teach- 
ing." But as soon as the king died, the brothers all 
fell to quarreling and paid little attention to the boy 
who was crowned Charles VI. 

The four uncles were all greedy for power and 
riches. They stole the jewels and the silver ser- 
vices of the late king. Then, not content with this, 
they refused to pay the soldiers and levied high taxes 
on the people. Riots broke out in Paris, and foreign 
wars abroad. 

In the meantime, Charles VI, who had been left 
to grow up by himself, cared for little else besides 
hunting and amusing himself. One day as he was 
riding with his courtiers through the forest, an old 
man in rags, and with long streaming hair, rushed 
out of a thicket crying: "King, go no further, 
thou art betrayed." The king rode on, but with a 
white and startled face. Suddenly a Httle page rid- 
ing behind him fell asleep, and dropped his lance 
forward. As it fell, it struck the helmet of the 
rider in front. Charles hearing the clash of steel 

LITTLE STORIES OF FRANCE — 6 



82 

thought he was betrayed. Mad with fear, he turned 
upon his own nobles and killed four of them. As 
he fought, he grew so wild that his attendants finally 
had to use force to restrain him, and they led him 
back to Paris bound hand and foot. 

In time he recovered his reason, but no one could 
tell when the fit of madness would come again. 
Charles VI was fond of war, and collected an army 
and fleet to attack England. While he was busy 
over his preparations, however, the English ships 
sailed across the channel and destroyed the French 
fleet as it rode at anchor. 

When news reached France that England was 
now preparing to invade their land, the son of the 
mad king laughed. He bought a set of tennis balls 
and sent them to Henry V of England, with the 
message that he was a madcap prince, and these 
balls were his fitting playthings. Henry V then 
made reply that he hoped to return each and every 
ball from the mouth of a cannon aimed at Paris. 

At Agincourt, French and English drew up for a 
mighty battle. The French forces were five times 
as large as the English, and they rode into battle 
confident of victory. But so thick and fast flew the 
English arrows that the French found it impossible 
to advance. The battle ended by a terrible French 
defeat. Ten thousand of the bravest princes and 



83 

nobles in the land lay dead on the field that night. 
The Dauphin escaped from the fight but died soon 
afterwards ; and the king was mad, shut up in his 
palace. Truly, as an old monk wrote: "These 
were evil days for France." 

Finally a treaty was made with England. It was 
agreed that Henry V should marry Katherine, the 
daughter of Charles VI, who should bring to Henry, 
as her dowry, all the French provinces that had 
once belonged to the English kings, and that at the 
death of Charles, Henry should become king of 
France as well as England. Henry rode in state to 
Paris and was married with great pomp in Notre 
Dame to the French princess. He was very kind to 
King Charles, and the king loved him more than he 
did his own sons. When the following winter news 
was brought him that Henry was dead, he wept and 
wrung his hands, crying : " Oh, my good son Henry ! " 

But a few weeks later, Charles himself died, and 
his body was carried to Saint Denis. The people 
mourned for him with true sorrow. He had always 
been kind and good whenever his madness left him, 
and he came to be known as "Charles the Well- 
beloved." " Ah, dear king," they mourned, " never 
shall we have any as good as thou wert ; since thou 
dost leave us we shall have nothing but wars and 
sorrows." And the people spoke rightly. 



84 




The herald's voice 
proclaimed in the 
streets : " The king is 
dead. Long live Henry 
VI, King of France 
and England." But 
Henry VI was only a 
baby, and long before 
he grew to be a man, 
France had passed for- 
ever out of the hands 
of the English. 

THE MAID OF 
ORLEANS 

In the midst of these 
terrible war days, there 
was born in the little 
village of Domremy a peasant girl, named Jeanne 
d'Arc. When she grew older she used to tend her 
father's sheep, and as she sat on the hillside, watch- 
ing them day by day, she often looked out over the 
ruined houses and blackened fields and wondered if 
the English would ever come again to frighten her 
people and burn their peaceful homes. Her father, 
too, feared the same, and so taught his little daughter 
to ride a horse and to use simple weapons. 



^i 






Herald 



85 

Later she heard that the dreaded EngUsh were 
back in France, not in her own village, but besieg- 
ing the brave town of Orleans. News came that 
the Dauphin, who was now governing France, dared 
not go to Rheims to be crowned, because the Eng- 
lish troops held the place. One day as Jeanne sat 
musing over all these rumors, wishing that she were 
a man so that she might go and fight for her coun- 
try, she saw a vision and heard voices bidding her 
leave her home and deliver the Dauphin from his 
enemies, so that he might be crowned king. So 
loudly and so plainly did she hear these voices that 
she felt she must go to the French court at once. 
She was so poor that she thought at first that she 
must go afoot, but some kind neighbors gave her 
a horse. Then she put on men's clothing, instead 
of her coarse red dress, cut off her long black hair 
and rode bravely off alone. 

The journey was long and perilous, for the coun- 
try was still full of robbers and free lances, but when 
it was over she found that her troubles had only 
begun. The nobles met her strange story with 
laughter and scorn, and refused to let her see the 
king. But finally her sweetness and gentle manner 
prevailed, and she was led into the presence of her 
sovereign. The story runs that the king, to test 
her, had put on the simple robe of a courtier, and 



86 

stood among the rest of the nobles when Jeanne 
entered. But Jeanne went to him, without hesitation, 
saluted and said : — 

" In God's name, it is you, sire, and none other." 

There she stood, a simple shepherd lass ; who 
could neither read nor write, before a roomful of 
men of noble birth, but she was not afraid, for she 
brought with her the faith that she was to save 
France. Gradually her soft voice, ringing with 
enthusiasm and loyalty, aroused the king and his 
lords, and he granted Jeanne her request — she was 
to go and relieve Orleans. 

He gave her a big horse and pure white armor, 
and she herself sent for a sword having five 
crosses on the blade, that she had seen in a dream 
lying behind an altar in a certain church. 

But at Orleans the people who were defending 
the city mistrusted her. They tried to hide their 
plans from her and make a secret attack in the 
night on the enemy. But the shouts of war woke 
her from her sleep. She hastily called for her horse 
and galloped into the midst of the fight. The sol- 
diers cheered her wildly and now even the unwilling 
captains were forced to listen to her. In the days 
that followed, Jeanne, though twice wounded, was 
always at the front, urging on the French and terri- 
fying the English, who took her for a witch. She 



87 




Jeanne d'Arc on Horseback 

entered Orleans on Friday, and a week from the 
following Sunday the English had turned their backs 
forever on the city. 

Jeanne did not linger to enjoy her triumph. Amid 
the tears of joy and the cheering of the people, she 
rode out of the city the next day to do the rest of 
her task, — to crown the Dauphin king of France. 
From far and near people came to see her, and a 
large army sprang up around her and the king, 
eager to march toward Rheims. Still the court 
delayed, for the nobles were jealous of Jeanne's 
glory ; but she was firm in her faith and the people 
were with her. 



88 

The French first attacked the English who were 
holding Troyes. After a six days' siege the king 
was discouraged, for the food was growing very 
scarce, but Jeanne begged him to hold out two days 
longer. When he agreed, she mounted her horse 
and led the attack against the town. The English, 
in terror, opened their gates before the assault be- 
gan. Thus the last difficulty was surmounted and 
the army marched safely to Rheims. Here the 
king was crowned in the big cathedral, the brave, 
young peasant girl standing by his side. 

Jeanne was now ready to go back to her father 
and mother, and the tending of her sheep, but the 
voices still called her to drive the English from the 
land. She stayed with the king and army, trying 
to hasten an attack on the English. But the indo- 
lent king, listening to idle tales from his jealous 
nobles, forgot all Jeanne had done for him and 
France, and began to believe that she was a witch. 
At last, in a battle with the English, Jeanne was 
captured and the king did not seek to ransom her. 
The English believed her to be a witch and tried 
her for sorcery. She was condemned to be burned 
at the stake. Thus she died for the country she so 
dearly loved. 

The Hundred Years' War lingered on for many 
years. At length, in 1453, it came to an end, as the 



89 




Coronation of Charles VII 



90 



king of neither country was fond of war, and the 
people had long since wearied of it. Soon France 
and England forgot their bitter hostility in trying to 
solve the many problems that confronted them in 
their own affairs. 



LOUIS XI, THE SUPERSTITIOUS KING 

When the people of France heard of the cruel 
death of Jeanne d'Arc, they rallied bravely round 
their captains, and drove the hated English out 
of France. 

Then the king, Charles VII, whom Jeanne had 
crowned, showed himself worthy of her hopes. He 
reorganized his country and army so skillfully that 
the king of England, who had possessed more than 
one half of France, was able to keep only one 
stronghold — the seaport of Calais. Louis, the 
king's eldest son, was born and grew up in the 
midst of these days. At the age of thirteen he had 
been married to a little Scotch princess, Margaret, 
one year younger than himself. But he was restless 
at court, and soon tired of his young bride, so his 
father sent him to govern a province. At first he 
enjoyed the work and endeavored to make his prov- 
ince the finest in the land, but before long he became 
restless again. He wanted to govern Normandy, a 



91 

larger province. His father refused to allow him. 
Then Louis began to tax the people of his province 
until they complained to the king. More than this, 
Louis displeased his father by marrying again 
against Charles' wishes, his poor little Scotch bride 
having died. 

Charles sent for Louis to come back to court. 
Louis did not like his father's friends, and refused 
to come. Charles cut down Louis' allowance, and 
at last sent an army against him. The Dauphin 
w^as now really alarmed. He had no soldiers to 
resist the king's army. There was but one thing 
to do — to seek safety in flight. This Louis did. 
He escaped to Brussels where the Duke of Bur- 
gundy took the penniless prince in and gave him 
a home and a pension. Louis' wife, Charlotte, who 
was so poor that she had only one torn dress to 
wear, joined her husband here ; and here, in exile, 
their first little son was born. When the French 
king, who felt himself growing feebler day by day, 
heard of the birth of his grandson, he sent w^ord to 
Louis to come back and be forgiven. But Louis 
had no love in his heart for his father. He refused 
to go. Madness came over the old king. He be- 
lieved his son was sending him poisoned food, so he 
refused to eat, and soon died. ^ 

A messenger came galloping to Louis to tell him 



92 

he was now king. Louis set out at once for France, 
begging Duke Philip to ride with him, for he did 
not know how he would be received by the French 
people. But he soon saw he had nothing to fear. 
His people flocked over the border to welcome him, 
and he was crowned at once Louis XI of France. 

Louis looked little like a monarch. He was 
short, had small eyes, a long nose, and a cruel 
mouth. He wore his hair long, hanging over his 
shoulders, and pulled down over his head an old 
felt hat with leaden images of the saints standing 
around the crown. He liked, too, to dress like the 
commoners, instead of wearing velvets and satins. 

Before Louis had ruled many years, Philip of 
Burgundy died and his son Charles inherited all 
his dukedom. Charles was very greedy for wealth 
and power. He and Louis now forgot their old 
friendship, when Charles' father had taken into his 
home the fugitive prince, and they began a long 
war with each other. After the war had continued 
many years, Charles sent for Louis to come to his 
palace and talk over terms of peace, promising him 
safety while there. Louis came. While he was 
there, word came that Charles' city of Liege had 
revolted in favor of Louis. The duke, much en- 
raged, imprisoned his royal guest. Louis, fearing 
that Charles would kill him, resolved to make peace 



93 

at any price. He gained his freedom by promising 
to march with Charles against Liege. So they went 
forth together and the disgraced Louis had to stand 
by and see the loyal city laid in ruins. After this 
Charles let the king go back to Paris. 

Here he did much for the city. He lowered the 
taxes and encouraged trade. He did not care much 
for books himself, but when he heard that the print- 
ing press had been invented, he had one brought to 
Paris. Up to this time books had all been written 
by hand, and had cost so much that only the very 
wealthy could afford to own them. One woman 
gave a whole flock of sheep for a single book. 

In the meantime, Charles of Burgundy, called 
rightly Charles the Bold, had gone to Switzerland 
to try and join that land to his, but the Swiss 
fought too bravely to be conquered. Suddenly 
news came to Louis that Charles was dead. He 
had fallen in the midst of the fight. With this 
great rival gone, Louis felt new strength in his 
veins. One by one he suppressed all his nobles, 
making them acknowledge him their lord and mas- 
ter. But he was growing into a sour, suspicious 
and gloomy old man. 

During his last years he shut himself up in a 
castle, round which ran a moat guarded with 
a trellis of iron bars. At eight in the morning the 



94 

drawbridge fell, and the sentinels marched over and 
stood on guard as before a fortress. No stranger 
might enter except through a little wicket gate, by 
the king's special permission. Here the self-im- 
prisoned king spent the last years of his life, walking 
up and down the long galleries, or stealing out into a 
tiny court for a breath of fresh air. To let the world 
know he was still alive, he sent to all the foreign 
lands for dogs or fine horses. No one was allowed 
to speak the word death. At last he grew so feeble 
that he knew he must be dying. He sent for his son 
Charles and begged him to be a good and wise ruler. 
" Give the country a rest from war," were almost 
the last words that fell from his lips. He had been 
very cowardly the latter part of his life, but he died 
bravely. 

FRANCE AND BAYARD 

Although Louis XI had cared little for his son, 
now Charles VHI, he had always loved his eldest 
daughter Anne dearly, so he gave to her and to her 
husband the charge of the little thirteen year old 
king. We do not know much about this good 
Anne of Beaujeu except that she gave France a 
period of peace and prosperity, worked faithfully 
and well until the young king claimed his power, 
and then handed it quietly over to him. 



95 

The new king was a dreamer. In his mind he 
saw the kingdom of France stretching far over the 
snow-clad Alps down into Italy. He knew nothing 
of war, but he had a splendid army and at its head 
he rode down into the coveted country. The 
Italians were a people very fond of beautiful pictures, 
fair landscapes and handsome men and women. 
When they saw the French king they were shocked 
at his ugliness. One Italian writer described him 
thus: "His head was big; his nose hooked and 
large, his lips rather flat, chin round with a kind of 
ditch in it, his eyes large and starting out of his 
head, his neck too short and wanting in stiffness, 
and his back broad." This was the prince who 
looked upon himself as a gorgeous knight riding 
down into Italy. 

He thought his march was one long triumph, for 
the Italians, in no way prepared for war, opened their 
city gates to welcome him, and Charles rode proudly 
in, thinking himself a conqueror. Had he gone in 
as a friend the people might have liked him, but he 
was very cruel and so left behind bitter hatred. 
Down, down, into the very southernmost part of 
Italy, he marched, conquering city after city, so he 
thought. But when he had ended his march and 
had sent back word to France of his glorious con- 
quest of Italy, he found that not only were the 



96 

Italians in the north banding against him, but 
Spain and other countries were leagued with them. 
The other countries of Europe had no desire that 
France should become too powerful. As Charles 
marched home, he found the gates of the cities he 
considered his own shut in his face. Once he was 
forced, much against his will, to go into battle. At 
length, after great difficulties, he and a small part 
of his army reached Paris. The soldiers Charles 
left in the Italian cities either died of pest or 
escaped home by sea. Finally every Frenchman 
was driven out of Italy. 

For many years the king who had caused all this 
disaster to his splendid army and brought so much 
suffering upon Italy, wasted his time traveling idly 
from place to place, holding merry tournaments. in 
every town. Then grief came to him. His two 
baby boys died. A great seriousness came over 
Charles, and he listened eagerly to the teachings of 
the Church. He thought of good Saint Louis, and 
tried like him to establish peace and justice in 
France. He held public audiences, when he sat for 
hours listening to the complaints of his people, 
particularly the poor. Remembering the beautiful 
pictures and buildings he had seen in Italy, he sent 
for Italian painters and architects to build a splen- 
did palace at Am.boise. Here he had hoped to live 



97 

many days, but before the chateau was finished he 
died without an heir, leaving his throne to a distant 
cousin, Louis of Orleans, who thus became Louis 
XII of France. 

Louis loved his people, and was so kind to his 
nobles and his peasants that he was called the 
father of his country. Some of the citizens of 
Orleans, w^ho had complained of him as duke, 
and were afraid he would imprison them now that 
he was king, came humbly to ask pardon. 

" Rise, sirs," was Louis' reply; "the King of 
France will not avenge the injuries done to the 
Duke of Orleans." 

Like Charles, he went to war with Italy and was 
at first successful, but in the end he, too, was de- 
feated. In all Louis' battles there was one very 
prominent figure, the Chevalier Bayard, who was 
called the "fearless and blameless knight." His 
fathers and grandfathers had all fought for the kings 
of France, and when Bayard was a little boy he used 
to say to his mother : — 

" I, too, will carry arms like my father, and be a 
brave knight." 

Not long after this. Bayard's uncle came to visit 
them, and offered to take the boy to town with him. 
The village tailor was sent for, and the good old man 
sat up all night to make clothes for the boy, working 

LITTLE STORIES OF FRANCE — 7 



98 

" on velvet, satin and other things needful to clothe 
a good knight." The next day Bayard, dressed in 
his fine new clothes, mounted his pony and was 
ready to ride out into the world. His mother came 




Bayard the Page 

down into the courtyard of the castle to see him 
start. She brought him a purse of gold and a little 
packet of clean linen. With tears in her eyes she 
bade him good-by. 

" Remember," she charged him, " to love and 
serve God ; to be courteous to your elders and 
merciful to the poor ; to tell the truth, and be loyal, 
brave, and generous always." 



99 



After kissing his mother good-by, Bayard trotted 
off by the side of his uncle, glad to leave behind him 
the dull castle and to go out in the world and learn 
to become a knight. For many years he was only 
a page in the household of the Duke of Savoy, but 
at seventeen he was an armed knight. 










Bayard holds the Bridge 

When France was at war with Spain, in one of 
the first battles. Bayard had two horses killed under 
him, and took a flag of the enemy. Soon no gen- 
eral wished to go to war without him, for his good 
humor and bravery delighted every one. One day 
he saved the whole army. The soldiers were en- 



100 



camped upon the bank of a river, when Bayard sud- 
denly saw the enemy's cavalry approaching a bridge 
which was poorly guarded. He called to his com- 
panions to come and help him, and rushed forth to 
meet the troop that was just reaching the bridge. 
Assailed on all sides, he leaned against a parapet 
and defended himself like a young lion. Then help 
arrived with the cry, " France and Bayard ! " and, 
at the very name, the Spanish fled. 

FRANCIS I 

When Louis XII died, he had no son to succeed 
him, so the crown went to a cousin, a young count, 
Francis of Angouleme, only twenty years old, who 
had married one of the daughters of Louis. Like 
Charles and Louis, Francis I wanted to rule Italy. 
Because his predecessors had failed, he longed the 
more to be victorious. So, gathering a mighty 
army, he moved with them over the Alps, so rapidly, 
and through such difficult, unknown passes, that 
the Italians, when they saw them, cried : — 
" Truly the French must fly over the Alps ! " 
But when it came to a battle, the French were 
badly beaten. If night had not put an end to the 
fighting, their forces would have been cut to pieces. 
But Francis was a brave leader. All night he sat 



tot 




King Francis knighted by Bayard 

on horseback, sometimes almost alone, to be ready 
should the Swiss and Italians attack. As he sat 
there in the darkness, he could tell by the muffled 
voices about him that his men were gathering again. 
With the morning the enemy pressed forward to 
complete their victory, but the French stood firm, 
fighting with such bravery that the Swiss had to 
retreat. So after all the French won the day. 
Bayard, the noble knight, was there, and raising 
his sword above the king's head dubbed him 
" Sir Francis," because of his great courage in the 
battle. 



102 



This pleased the king very much, for, Hke Louis 
XII, he deUghted in all the splendor of knighthood 
and chivalry. When he went back to France, he 
invited Henry VIII, King of England, to visit him. 
Henry did not come to Paris, but the scene of 
the meeting was a plain near Ardres, not far from 
Calais, which latter was still an English possession. 
Francis tried to amaze the English king by his 
wealth and splendor, and Henry sought to dazzle 
Francis by his own magnificence and that of his 

court, and for this reason 
the plain near Ardres has 
always borne the name of 
the Field of the Cloth of 
Gold. 

The two kings were very 
friendly. Francis, with only 
two gentlemen and a page, 
rode into Henry's camp 
early one morning, and find- 
ing Henry still abed waited 
on him while he dressed. 
When the English king re- 
turned the visit, he saw some 
of the French soldiers wrestling, so he challenged 
Francis to try a fall wath him. Francis was much 
the lighter weight, but he was quicker, and soon 




King Francis 



I03 

threw the stout Henry, much to the amusement of 
all witnessing the match. 

While these two kings were making merry, the 
young Austrian emperor, Charles V, who had sud- 
denly become master of Austria, Spain, and Ger- 
many, was quietly planning how he could join Italy 
to his possessions. 

" Ever farther," was his motto. 

The rest of Francis' reign was spent in long wars 
with this ambitious prince. Seldom were the French 
successful. Once, in the battle of Pavia, Charles 
took the French king prisoner. So complete was 
the victory of the Austrians that Francis wrote home 
to his mother : — 

" All is lost save our honor ! " 

These long wars cost much money and made 
France very poor. But the court was gay and bril- 
liant. Young German princes were sent here to 
learn French manners. The king was extrava- 
gant in his tastes, and so long as he could get 
money he spent it freely. From some of the old 
bills we can see how it slipped through his fin- 
gers. 

" For necessaries ; for a splendid bronze horse and 
rider ; for a diamond cross ; for furs and velvets from 
Genoa ; for rare trees to be planted in the gardens 
at Fontainebleau ; for a menagerie, — eight horses, 



104 

four camels, six ostriches, a lion, seven pairs of birds, 
and eight hares from Fez." 

Then there were other bills, for type to print a 
poor poet's verses ; to help scholars ; to buy a horse 
for the royal cook, so that he might journey through 
the land with the king ; and to pay the eighteen 
hundred workmen who for twelve years were em- 
ployed on the great palace at Chambord. 

Chambord had been but a bare fortress when 
Francis began to reign, but it was the king's idea 
to change it into a palace more beautiful than any 
he had seen in Italy. It was so large when it 
was completed that four hundred guests with their 
horses and servants could be entertained there at 
one time. Around the castle were parks, terraces, 
gardens with open-air theaters, and tournament fields. 
There were woods stretching far away, filled with 
wild boars to hunt. All over the palace were secret 
towers and staircases. One very beautiful spiral 
staircase in the court greatly delighted Francis, be- 
cause two people could ascend and descend it at the 
same time without seeing each other. 

At Fontainebleau, too, Francis built another beau- 
tiful chateau, with gardens, orange groves, fountains, 
and green lawns smooth as velvet. Italian architects 
were brought to France to build this castle, and many 
art treasures from Italy were preserved within it. 



I05 




Chateau of Fontainebleau 



The people loved Francis I because he did so much 
to make their country beautiful, and because " he 
loved to do a favor and see men leave his presence 
with their faces shining with gratitude." 



THE PERIOD OF RELIGIOUS WARS 

Now came the time of wars and persecutions. 
One king after another ruled over France, and all 
were troubled because their Protestant and Catho- 
lic subjects could not live peaceably together. The 
Protestants were called Huguenots, from a German 



io6 



word which means partners in an oath. They had 
left the CathoHc church, which up to this time had 
been the one church in all France, because they 
wished a much simpler form of worship. But they 

were not content to 
meet in their own 
churches and wor- 
ship in their own 
way. They went in- 
to the Catholic 
churches, tore down 
the images of saints, 
and broke the beau- 
tiful stained win- 
dows. Then the 
Catholics were an- 

Catherine de Medici ^^^ ^^^ attacked the 

Huguenots. Both claimed that their religion was 
the better one, but neither party sought to prove it 
by showing themselves to be the more honorable, 
industrious, and charitable men and women. In 
vain one old man, Michel de I'Hopital, the famous 
chancellor, who loved France, cried : — 

" Cast aside these names of Catholic and Protes- 
tant, over which you are constantly quarreling, and 
keep only the common one of Christians." 

The religious wars began. On both sides were 




io^ 



splendid captains and brave men. Among the 
Catholics the greatest leader was the Duke of Guise. 
Among the Protestants, Admiral Coligny was the 
best. Great battles were fought. At last, after 
much bloodshed, all seemed to be peacefully ar- 
ranged. Catherine de Medici, who had married the 
son of Francis I, was queen mother of the young 
king, Charles IX. As a way out of these religious 
troubles, she offered one of her daughters in mar- 
riage to a young Protestant prince, Henry of Beam 
in Navarre. Henry 
was a noble prince 
and much loved by 
his people. If you 
should go to Pau in 
southern France to- 
day, you could see 
the cradle in which 
Henry slept when 
a baby. But it was 
not made like most 
cradles, of wood or 
straw; it was the 
big shell of a tortoise. When Henry was a boy, 
his mother taught him herself, and sent him to 
play out on the hills with the shepherd boys, so he 
grew up to be a strong, healthy man. No wonder 




Henry of Navarre and the Shepherd 
Boys 



io8 

Catherine was pleased to have her daughter marry 
him. 

At the wedding there were great festivities, and 
all the Protestant nobles were invited to attend. 
Admiral Coligny came, of whom the young king, 
Charles IX, was so fond that he used to call him 
"father." Three days after the wedding, Coligny 
was shot in the streets of Paris, presumably as the 
result of a Catholic plot. Catherine now feared that 
the Huguenots would try to revenge the admiral's 
death, and she frightened her son into thinking that 
he would be dethroned if he did not put all the 
Protestants to death. Charles hesitated, but at last 
replied : — 

" Yes, kill them all. Do not let one be left to re- 
proach, me ! " 

So on the eve of the feast of Saint Bartholomew 
the great bell of the church of Saint Germain, 
back of the Louvre, rang out at midnight, and then 
all the bells in Paris began to ring. This was the 
signal for the attack on the Protestants. The fol- 
lowers of the Duke of Guise, wearing white bands 
on their arms to distinguish them from the Hugue- 
nots, came forth and put all the Protestants to death. 
It was a terrible night. The young king never for- 
got it. In his dreams he was haunted by bloody 
faces, and at last he died, crying : — 



109 



" O God, forgive me. Have mercy upon me, if 
Thou canst." 

The new king, Henry HI, was a very strange 
man. What he cared most for was his fine clothes 
and his personal beauty. He even slept in a mask, 
for the sake of 
his complexion, 
and wore gloves 
to preserve the 
whiteness of his 
hands. Every day 
he stood over his 
queen while she 
had her hair 
dressed, to see that 
it was done in the 
most becoming 
fashion. Another 
hobby of his was 
little dogs. He 
used often to carry "^"^y "^ ^"^ his Pet Dogs 

a basket of them around his neck. He had no chil- 
dren, so the people knew that the crown must pass 
from him to his cousin, Henry of Navarre. This 
angered the Duke of Guise and many of the Catho- 
lics, for Henry of Navarre was a Protestant. They 
formed a party to keep this Protestant prince from 




no 



reigning. This made three great poHtical parties in 
France: first, the party led by the Duke of Guise, 
composed of those CathoHcs who were loyal to 
Henry III, but opposed to Henry of Navarre; sec- 
ond, the Catholics who were loyal to both Henrys ; 
and, third, the Protestants. The Guises were so 
powerful that the king himself feared to stay in 
Paris, and he formed a plot to kill the duke. Greatly 
did he rejoice when he heard the news of the mur- 
der of the Duke of Guise. But his happiness did 
not last long. He himself was stabbed to death by 
a monk in disguise, who had gained admittance to 
Henry's private cabinet. Then Henry of Navarre 
was proclaimed Henry IV of France. 

KING HENRY OF NAVARRE 

The new king had to fight his way to the throne. 
At Ivry he first met his enemies. Drawing up his 
army, he rode down the line, crying to his soldiers : 

" My friends, I am your king. You are French- 
men. Yonder is the enemy. If you lose your 
standards, follow my white plume ; you will always 
find it in the path of honor and of victory." 

With a shout of " Long live King Henry of 
Navarre," the cavalry rode fiercely into battle. The 
white plume was victorious. Then Henry went on 



Ill 



to Paris. He found the gates of the capital closed 
in his face. The citizens and thirteen hundred 
Catholic monks and priests, still wearing their cleri- 
cal gowns, but carrying muskets on their shoulders, 
came forth on the walls to defend Paris against the 




Henry of Navarre at the Battle of Ivry 

Protestant king. So Henry lay there in siege many 
months. He was a kind general, however, and al- 
lowed food to be sent into Paris to the sick in the 
hospitals, and even let the old and weak pass out 
through his lines unharmed, so that they might 
escape starvation. At last, one morning, Henry 



112 



attended mass in the Abbey of Saint Denis. As he 
crossed the threshold he met the archbishop and 
his procession of clergy. 

"Who are you, sir ? " inquired the archbishop. 

"The king of France," was Henry's reply. 

"What do you here ? " 

"I come to be received into the Roman Catholic 
church !" 

" Do you desire it ? " 

" I both will and desire it." 

Then Henry knelt and was received into the 
church, while the old abbey rang with the shouts of 
the joyful people who hastened to see the ceremony. 

Later, Henry was crowned Henry IV of France 
in the Cathedral of Chartres. He was a merciful 
king and granted pardon to all who had fought 
against him. He even let a large number of Span- 
ish troops, who had come to help the Catholics, 
leave the city unharmed. As they marched by 
Henry and saluted, he said : — 

"Go, gentlemen, and commend me to your king. 
Go in peace, but return no more ! " 

Henry, although now a Catholic, did not forget 
his Protestant friends. He made a law whereby 
they could live peacefully in the land and have their 
own churches, schools, and colleges. 

War was now over in France. The farmers could 



113 



once more sow their seed and build their homes 
with no fear that soldiers would come to burn or 
plunder them. 







The Good King Henry IV 

" I am the father of my land," said good King 
Henry. "If God spares my life, I will work until 
every one of my peasants is rich enough to have a 
good fat chicken in his pot for Sunday dinner." 

Henry himself was very poor at first, for the 
royal domain was greatly in debt. He had scarcely 
enough money to pay his tailor or his cook. Still, 
with the help of his great minister, Sully, he brought 

LITTLE STORIES OF FRANCE — 8 



114 

prosperity to France. They caused bridges to be 
rebuilt, roads and canals to be improved, mulberry 
trees to be planted, silk looms to be set up, and in- 
creased the prosperity of the country in many ways. 
One thing troubled Henry. He had no children 
to whom he could leave his great kingdom, nor did 




Henry IV and his Children 

he love his wife. So the Pope allowed him to 
divorce Margaret of Valois and to marry Marie de 
Medici. When he became the father of two sons 
and three daughters, never was there a prouder 
parent. The Austrian ambassador was greatly 



115 

amused one day when he came into the king's 
chamber, and found him capering round the room 
on his hands and knees, with two small boys on 
his back. 

Although Henry did so much for France, and 
there never was a king more beloved, he was 
stabbed by a cruel man one day while riding in 
his carriage. 

" I am wounded," was all the king said as he fell 
back against the cushions and died. 

The people wept in the streets, mourning, " The 
good King Henry is dead ! " 

RICHELIEU, THE GREAT MINISTER 

When Henry IV died, his eldest son, Louis, was 
only nine years old, so once more in France a 
queen mother became regent. But Marie de 
Medici was not like the good Blanche of Castile. 
She was a weak woman, entirely under the influence 
of favorites, chiefly an Italian adventurer and his 
wife. These two people really governed France 
until the day Louis was sixteen, that is, of age to 
reign. He ordered the arrest of the Italian favorite, 
and if he resisted, he was to be killed. He did 
resist, and was slain. Soon afterwards his wife was 
condemned to death and the queen mother banished 



ii6 



from the court. Louis XIII was now king of 

France. 

But Louis did not want to rule. He was too 

indolent to trouble himself to think out problems of 

government. At last he found a man to be his 

minister who was a 
great statesman as 
well as churchman, 
— Cardinal Riche- 
lieu. From now, un- 
til he died, Richelieu 
was the most power- 
ful man not only in 
France but in Eu- 
rope. He had been 
in the army before he 
entered the church, 
and this helped him 
to understand and to 
guide the long wars 

Cardinal Richelieu of Louis' reign. 

First, Richelieu made war against the Hugue- 
nots, in spite of the protecting laws that Henry IV 
had made for them. King Henry had even given 
them several cities, and one of these, La Rochelle, 
Louis and his minister now marched against. 
When they found that they must besiege the town, — 




117 

for the Huguenots refused to give it up, — they were 
greatly troubled, for the city was situated on a river, 
and they feared that the English would send aid to 
the Protestants by this passage. So Richelieu sank 
great ships, all chained together, in the harbor, 
so that when the English came they might not 
reach the city. La Rochelle held out bravely many 
months. Then the Huguenots sent out their 
women and children to the king, hoping that their 
thin, starved faces would move Louis to pity. But 
Louis was merciless and drove the helpless crea- 
tures back from his lines. At last, when many of 
the garrison had died, and the survivors were so 
weak that they could hardly lift a gun, the town 
surrendered. The lives of the people were spared, 
but the walls of the city were torn down and the 
churches destroyed. 

Although Louis and Richelieu were so cruel, 
other men were busy doing deeds of great kindness. 
One priest, Vincent de Paul, gathered together all 
the homeless children of Paris and gave them into 
the care of good women. He also started the order 
of the Sisters of Mercy, who are like nuns except 
that, instead of living entirely in convents, they 
go about nursing the sick, teaching poor children, 
and finding homes for orphans. The great ladies 
at court, even the queen herself, became interested 



ii8 

in helping the poor, and used to disguise themselves 
in simple gowns and go out and care for the sick. 

Meanwhile, Richelieu was busy with wars. He 
was a harsh, cruel man ; but he was absolutely de- 
voted to the interests of his country, and worked 
always to increase the greatness of France. At the 
end of his rule he had added four provinces to the 
kingdom. But he was very old now, and so sick 
that he had to be carried in a litter. On his death- 
bed he said : — 

"I shall soon appear before my Judge. May He 
condemn me if I ever meant aught save the wel- 
fare of church and state. I have the satisfaction of 
knowing that I never deserted the king, that I leave 
his kingdom exalted and his enemies abased." 

Louis Xni, who had been but a shadow in 
the background of his great minister, survived the 
latter only six months. 

THE SUN KING 

France had many boy kings, but none younger 
than Louis XIV. He inherited his kingdom when 
only four years old, and as in the case of the other 
boy kings, his mother governed in his stead until he 
was of age. The queen felt the need of a wise man 
to help her rule, so she chose Cardinal Mazarin to 



119 




Louis XIV 



120 



be her minister, a very clever man who had been 
trained under the great Richelieu. Louis, as a child, 
was very gentle, quiet, and rather stupid at his 
books. People thought that he w^ould grow up to 
be a kind, peace-loving king, who would avoid all 
wars, and whom his people would love, but whom 
history would ignore. But Mazarin was a better 
reader of character than this. As he kept his sharp 
eyes upon the lad, day after day, he observed : — 

" He is a rocket that will go off late, but will go 
farther than any of the rest. There is stuff enough 
in him to make four kings and one honest man." 

When Mazarin died, the ministers asked the 
young king, who had just come of age, to whom 
they should go with questions of state. 

" To me," Louis replied ; " I am the state ; " and 
through the long years of the rest of his reign Louis 
never had a prime minister. Every morning he 
worked many hours with the ministers of the several 
departments. But he enjoyed festivities more. His 
father had owned a hunting box, not far from Paris, 
at Versailles. Here Louis caused to be built a 
beautiful palace, whose walls were hung with pic- 
tures by the most famous artists of the day. There 
were beautiful gardens and terraces round the pal- 
ace, and in front a lake in which were the finest 
fountains in the world. It was the king's great 



121 




Chateau of Versailles 



delight in the evening to turn this palace into a very 
fairyland, with music, lights, dancing, and banquets. 
Here through the gardens strayed the lords and 
ladies of the court, dressed in gorgeous silks and 
satins and velvets. Sometimes they had masquer- 
ade balls, and then Louis would dress as Apollo, so 
he became known as the " Sun King." 

All this charmed Louis because he loved glory. 
He wished to have France the most powerful coun- 
try in the worlds not because he loved France and 
its people, but because he was the king of France, 
and he wished to be the greatest king in the world. 



122 



Thus he carried on many wars that brought him 
sometimes victory, sometimes defeat, but always 
made his people dislike him more and more, for they 
wished for peace. 

When Louis' queen, Maria Theresa, died, he did 
not marry another princess, but the widow of a poor 
poet, Madame de Maintenon, who had been govern- 
ess to Louis' children. But Louis never called 
her queen, although he loved her and v/as often 
guided by her advice. She was a good woman, but 
narrow-minded, and she caused the king to do one 
of the most cruel acts of his reign. Madame de 
Maintenon was a staunch Catholic and hated the 
Huguenots, although they were good and indus- 
trious subjects. So she persuaded the king to per- 
secute them. All Protestant worship was forbidden ; 
Protestant pastors were obliged to leave France 
within fifteen days, and dragoons were quartered in 
all Protestant homes to eat the poor people's food, 
spoil their goods, and torment them until they 
should become Catholics. More than this, Louis 
would not permit his Protestant subjects to leave 
the country, as many of them wished to do. If 
they were caught trying to escape, they were put in 
prison. Many Huguenots, however, did flee safely 
to England, Germany, and America, where they 
settled and became excellent citizens. 



123 




*^?v*i*!Hi^'^ * 



Soon after this Protestant persecution all Europe 
became involved in a terrible war. The king of 
Spain died, leaving no direct heir to the Spanish 
throne. But there were soon claims for it. Louis 
had married the sister of the late Spanish king, so 
he demanded the throne for his grandson. The 
German emperor was descended from Charles V, 
who had been 
both emperor 
of Germany 
and king of 
Spain, so he 
desired his son 
to have the 
throne. Louis' 
plans were 
ready first. He 
saluted his 
grandson Philip as king of Spain and sent him off 
to Madrid with an army, saying : — 

" There are no more Pyrenees." 
. By this he meant that Spain and France should 
henceforth be one kingdom. But Europe thought 
France was too powerful already, and so began the 
War of the Spanish Succession. The French were 
badly beaten. 

Louis was now an old man, and a very unhappy 




Fountain at Versailles 



124 

one. All the great men of his day were dead. All 
his sons were dead. He had lived such a selfish 
life that no one loved him. Still, up to the very 
end, he bore himself nobly and splendidly. He was 
always the king. When he knew he was dying, he 
called his five-year-old great-grandchild to his bed, 
and said to him : — 

" My child, you are going to be a great king. Do 
not imitate me in my love of building and war. 
Strive always to be at peace with your neighbors. 
Render to God what is His due, and cause your sub- 
jects to honor Him. Follow good advice and strive 
to be a comfort to your people, which I, unfortunately, 
never have been." 

These were the words of advice from the monarch 
who had the longest and most eventful reign in 
French history. 

LOUIS XV 

Although the words of the dying Louis were 
printed over the bed of the new little king, he never 
paid any heed to them. The Duke of Orleans was 
regent during the first part of the long reign of 
Louis XV. The duke's mother had puzzled long 
over her boy's character, and then said : — 

" When he was born, all the fairies came and gave 
him a talent, so he possessed them all. But, later, 



125 



came an old, envious fairy, whom they had forgotten 
to invite to the feast, and, instead of giving him a 
talent, made all those the other fairies had given him 
useless." 

So while the Duke of Orleans was very brave, 
generous, and intelligent by nature, he was too lazy 
and fond of evil 
pleasures to be a 
good regent. 
Worse than this, 
the young Louis 
was much influ- 
enced by him, and, 
when he became 
of age, so he could 
rule, was fond 
only of amusing 
himself and cared 
nothing for his 
people. He even 
had a road built 
around the out- 
skirts of Paris, from Versailles to Saint Denis, so 
he could go hunting without being reminded of his 
subjects by seeing them. It is small wonder that 
he did not wish to see their faces, for they were not 
smiling and happy, full of love for their king. In- 




Louis XV 



126 

stead, they were dark and sullen, full of hatred for 
a sovereign who taxed them outrageously, carried 
on long foreign wars, and never had a kind thought 
for them. The peasants suffered most, for the 
weight of the taxes fell on them, — taxes that went 
into gifts for the king's favorites and into amuse- 
ments for the court. 

One day the good son of the Duke of Orleans 
took a loaf of sawdust and fern from his pocket, and 
threw^ it across the council table to Louis. 

" See, sire, that is what your people are eating ! " 
he cried, but Louis was too devoted to his own 
pleasure to care. 

" Things will last my time," the king is reported 
to have said. "After that let the deluge come ! " 

All through Louis' reign there were wars. Again 
all Europe was involved, as at the time of the Span- 
ish succession. Now it was an Austrian monarch 
who died, and left his kingdom to his only child, 
his beautiful daughter, Maria Theresa. But five 
European princes rose up and claimed the throne. 
Maria Theresa was a very brave woman, and wished 
to keep the crown for herself and her little son. So 
she fled into Hungary, w^here she called together 
her nobles, and standing before them in her widow's 
dress, the baby prince in her arms, said : — 

" My friends have deserted me, my relatives have 



12/ 

all turned against me. I and my little boy can 
trust only in your courage and faithfulness." 

When the nobles saw how brave she was, they 
all cried with one voice: — 

" Let us die for our king, Maria Theresa!" 

Many of them did. They collected a large army, 
drove out the French, and saved the empire for 
Maria Theresa and her son. 

Louis had one son who, unlike his father, grew 
up to be a good and noble man, and married a good 
princess. But because the Dauphin was so kind 
and upright, Louis hated him and would not let 
him take any part in state affairs. This good prince 
died long before his father, so he could never do 
anything for his country, but he left a little son who 
afterwards succeeded his grandfather as Louis XVI. 
Louis XV lived to reign sixty years, and when he 
died no one mourned him, because he had been so 
wicked and had made his people suffer so much. 

.THE LOCKSMITH KING 

" The king is dead ! Long live the king," sounded 
the voice of the herald in the great palace. When 
Louis and his queen, Marie Antoinette, heard these 
words, they fell on their knees, crying : — 

" May God prosper us ! We are too young to 
reign ! " 



128 

They were too young ! Louis was a good prince, 
but shy and rather stupid. He did not understand 
the terrible poverty of his people ; he did not like to 
meet strangers and talk to them, and he had none of 
the knightly dignity of Louis XIV. Two things he 
enjoyed : one was hunting, the other was shutting 
himself up in a little tower room and making keys 
like a common locksmith. 

Queen Marie Antoinette was only nineteen. She 
was a pretty, joyful young girl, delighting in balls, 
handsome gowns, and frolics of every sort. Some- 
times she and the court ladies would slip away 
from the great palace of Versailles, and go down 
through the gardens and park to a pretty rustic villa 
called the Little Trianon. There they dressed in 
simple muslin dresses and straw hats, and played at 
being dairymaids. 

This was the king and queen who were ruling 
France when the Americans signed their Declaration 
of Independence. One French nobleman, Lafayette, 
ran away from home to help the Americans in their 
war for freedom, and afterwards Louis XVI sent 
troops over to help them. When the Americans 
had won their freedom, Lafayette and his friends 
began to see that the nobles were oppressing the 
poor people in their own land of France. The 
king, because of the discontent of his people, was 



129 

forced to call together the States-General, — that is, 
representatives from the nobility, the clergy, and the 
commons, to try to find some remedy for the poverty 
and misery of the country. The commons, or repre- 
sentatives from the people, soon saw that the nobil- 
ity and clergy would never help them to make just 




Little Trianon 



laws, so they decided to leave the States-General 
and meet by themselves. Thus, these men, under 
their leader, Mirabeau, banded themselves together 
under the name of National Assembly. The king 
was frightened now, and forbade the rebellious 
commons to meet in the great hall at Versailles. 
Instead of disbanding, they held their meetings in a 

LllTLE STORIES OF FRANCE — 9 



130 

small building, called the Tennis Court, because there 
the nobles had been in the habit of playing that 
game. They determined never to separate until 
they had framed a constitution for the suffering 
people of France. They told the king, " We are 
here by the will of the people and will be driven 
out only at the point of the bayonet." 

Louis felt that he must yield, so he ordered the 
rest of the deputies to join with the National 
Assembly. 

Still the people of Paris were not satisfied. They 
feared that the king would not keep his promise to 
them. They chose the colors red, white, and blue, 
called the tricolor, as their emblem, and with cock- 
ades of these colors in their hats they rushed upon 
the great arsenal of Paris, overcame the guard, and 
thus provided themselves with plenty of cannon and 
arms. Their success here gave them new zeal. 
All titles of nobility were abolished, and dukes and 
nobles bore simply the common name of " citizen." 
On July 14, 1789, the cry went through the mob, 
"To the Bastille!" This was the great prison of 
Paris, where all the political prisoners were held. 
Men, women, and children rushed to the building, 
and began to demolish it. They wished all the 
enemies of the king to be free in those days. One 
of the courtiers, in terror, came running to the king 



131 



to tell him that the Bastille had fallen into the hands 

of the Paris mob. 

" Why, this is a revolt," said the astonished king, 
" No, sire," the nobleman answered, " this is a 

revolution." 

Still the slow-minded king did not believe it. 

Life went gayly on at the palace of Versailles. One 

evening there 

was a grand ban- 
quet given by 

the officers of the 

guard. The king 

and queen w^ere 

there, and all the 

guests had arisen 

and were sing- 
ing while they 

trampled the tri- 
color under foot. 

When news of 

this reached 

Paris, the people 

were furious ^^'^ °^ Marie Antoinette 

When the women of Paris, many of whom were starv- 
ing, heard of the great banquet at Versailles, they 
rushed in rage out of the city gates and on to the 
palace, shouting the one word, — " Bread ! Bread ! " 




132 

The king would not let the soldiers fire on a mob 
chiefly made up of women, and tried instead to 
pacify them by his kindly words. Still they insisted 
upon taking the royal family back to Paris with 
them. The king, queen, little Dauphin, and his 
sister were therefore led prisoners to their capital by 
this rabble, chiefly composed of fishwives, who 
shouted as they hurried them along : — 

" We shall no longer be hungry, for we have with 
us the baker, the baker's wife, and the baker's boy. 

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 

For many months Louis and his wife and chil- 
dren were kept imprisoned in the Tuileries at Paris, 
with a guard watching over them. The king grew 
very restless, kept thus indoors, and longed so for his 
hunting that one day he and the whole royal family 
managed to escape, and started for the palace at 
Saint Cloud. The people, thinking they were trying 
to flee from France, stopped the carriage and drove 
them back to their prison. Again many long, 
dreary months passed, then Louis planned another 
escape. This time he decided to try and get out 
of France. He wrote many secret letters to friends 
in Germany, and finally the plan seemed complete. 
The royal family, in disguise, set out one cold, moon- 



133 




Mafie Antoinette and her Children 



134 

less night on their perilous journey. Little notice 
was paid to the heavy coach that was bearing the 
king and queen away from their throne as fast as 
the horses could travel. Escape seemed almost 
certain now, for they were within a few miles 
of the border line, where friends were to meet them. 
Suddenly the light from a lantern was flashed into 
the carriage. It fell full on the pale, well-known 
faces of the fugitives. The horses were seized and 
forced to halt. A guard was called, and once more 
Louis and his family were brought prisoners to 
Paris. 

The kings of x4.ustria and Russia now demanded 
that Louis should be restored to his throne. This 
made the French people angrier than ever. They 
rose again in a mob, and hurrying on to the Tui- 
leries, swarmed up the stairs to kill the royal family. 
The king, however, met them so calmly and boldly 
that the mob retired without harming any of them. 
But many of the old nobles and clergy were impris- 
oned or massacred, and the royal family were moved 
from the Tuileries to the Temple, a dark, gloomy 
prison. 

A new assembly, called the National Convention, 
was now called. Its first act was to declare that 
royalty was at an end in France. The Frent:h 
Republic took the place of the French Kingdom. 



135 



Next Louis was brought to trial before this conven- 
tion ; and it was decided that he was guilty of 
conspiring against the liberty of the nation and 
must be executed. 

He was allowed to go back to the Temple to say 
good-by to his wife and children, and the next 
morning w^as led to 
the scaffold. 

" Frenchmen, I 
die innocent ! I par- 
don my enemies, 
and pray that 
France — " 

Here the drums 
began to beat, drown- 
ing his voice. As 
the executioner held 
up the severed head 
of the king, the peo- 
ple shouted with 

iQY ; The Dauphin 

" Long live the Republic ! Hurrah for Hberty ! " 
Then they set about killing all the friends of the 
king. Marie Antoinette, after a longer imprison- 
ment, was also beheaded, and the poor little Dau- 
phin probably died of neglect in his prison. The 
little girl, the Princess Marie Therese, was the only 




136 

one of the royal family who was allowed to live. 
She at last escaped to Russia. 

These were the awful days of the French Revolu- 
tion. 

THE LITTLE CORPORAL 

During one of these terrible winters a group 
of boys in a military school at the French town 
of Brienne were wandering up and down their long 
hall and looking out at the snowdrifts. There was 
nothing they wanted to do indoors, and outdoors it 
stormed furiously. At last a short, rather quiet boy 
spoke up : — 

" Why not get some shovels and make passages 
through the snow and build some forts ? Then we 
can divide ourselves into companies and have a bat- 
tle. I choose to be captain of the attacking party ! " 

A shout of joy went up from the boys, and in 
a few moments they were tumbling over one an- 
other in the drifts, hard at work making snow forts. 
For fifteen days, in their play hours, they waged a 
mock battle. We do not know whether the young 
Napoleon Bonaparte, for that was the name of the 
boy who started the game, gained the victory or 
not, but he was such a wonderful soldier in later 
years that we think he must have won this first 
play battle, too. 



I 



137 




Napoleon at School 

When Napoleon grew older and left the school 
for the army, he soon found his way to Paris. At 
this time the National Convention was split up into 
several sections, and Napoleon sided with those who 
wished to form a more stable government, to be 
called the Directory. The opposing sections, among 
whom were many Royalists, started to resist by force. 
Napoleon was placed in command by the Directory, 
and quickly and wisely went to work. He placed 
his cannon along the sides of the streets and 
bridges, so that it was impossible for the rebellious 
sections to make an attack without being swept 



138 

down by the shot. The revolt lasted only a few 
hours. The Directory saw that the young general 
was a genius in war, and sent him to Italy at the 
head of their army. When Napoleon took com- 
mand of his troops, whom he found poor and half 
starved, he said : — 

" Soldiers, you are hungry and naked. The Re- 
public owes you much, but she has no money to 
pay you. I am come to lead you down to the 
richest towns and most fertile fields under the sun. 
All shall be yours. Soldiers, will you come ? " 

These words aroused the troops and they all 
shouted : — 

" Yes ! Yes ! " 

Then Napoleon, began his campaign. His 
method was to make exceedingly rapid marches, 
so as to come upon the enemy unawares. He led 
his men over the Alps so fast that they had to leave 
tents and baggage behind, and sleep at night either 
on the cold ground or in dirt hovels. But Napo- 
leon slept on the ground too ; walked by their side 
as they marched, tending the sick and cheering 
them on with fresh courage, so that his army was 
devoted to him. 

Down through Italy the French marched, fight- 
ing a dozen battles, and at the end of the year they 
had conquered five armies, each one larger than 



139 

their own. The Italians begged for peace. Napo- 
leon granted it; but made them send many of their 
most beautiful pictures and statues to Paris and pay 
a large sum of money. At Venice he even took 
away the beautiful gilded bronze horses that stand 
guard above the great door of Saint Mark's Cathe- 
dral. 

Napoleon returned to Paris a great conqueror. 
The people all came out to meet him and hailed 
him as their hero. But the Directory was jealous 
of his popularity and put him at the head of another 
army so that he should leave Paris. They had a 
great scheme for conquering England, but decided 
that they would seize her rich province of India 
first. Napoleon, with thirty-six thousand picked 
men, sailed for Egypt, thinking that the nearest 
route to India, and made a long march across the 
desert. At last they met the Egyptian army, not 
far from the pyramids. 

" Soldiers," cried Napoleon, " from yonder pyra- 
mids forty centuries are watching you ! " 

The Egyptians rode fiercely down on Napoleon's 
foot soldiers, but the French charged again and 
again until they won a complete victory. The 
Egyptians always called Napoleon, " the lord of 
fire," because of the terrible charges he made ; but 
Napoleon's men had long ago given him the name 



m 




i§mi 



\m 



)?!*!m;^/iiii: 






^' >, til' 











a. 



c 
o 









i ^ .ill'' 



'//J 



111 II 



likJ 




141 

of " The Little Corporal," an affectionate title which 
clung to him even after he had become a great 
general. 

After many more battles Napoleon and his men 
returned to France. He found the leaders of the 
Directory quarreling among themselves and un- 
popular with the people. When he entered the 
council hall at Saint Cloud he was greeted with the 
cries : — 

" Down with the dictator ! Death to the tvrant." 

Some of the members of the Directory feared 
that Napoleon, glorying in his victories, would want 
to rule France, hence they wished him put to death. 
But Napoleon had his soldiers with him, and, at 
his word, they entered the hall with their bayonets 
fixed for a charge. 

The Directory was now^ abolished and three con- 
suls chosen to govern the country. You will not 
be surprised to hear that Napoleon was the First 
Consul. He now gave up war and went to live in 
the old royal palace of the Tuileries and had about 
him all the state and dignity of a court. He had 
married a very beautiful woman named Josephine, 
who did much to gain him friends. 

" I win provinces," said Napoleon, " but Josephine 
wins hearts." 



142 



THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON 

After a few years Napoleon again went to war, 
and again came back in triumph. Then he settled 
down and for a few years gave his country peace. 
He started schools and colleges, built roads and 
canals, and, best of all, had some of his most skillful 
lawyers draw up a code of laws for France. So 
wise were these laws that they are used to-day, and 
are still called the Code Napoleon. 

Napoleon also founded the now famous Legion 
of Honor. The sign of the legion is a cross on a 
red ribbon, and it is given to a soldier or citizen 
who does some deed of remarkable bravery. 

But after a few years Napoleon became restless. 
His genius was for war, and he was happier fighting 
than doing anything else. In the midst of the wars, 
Napoleon discovered a conspiracy against him. He 
found out the conspirators, and had them put to 
death. But now he did a very cruel thing. He pre- 
tended that one of the young princes of the royal 
house of Conde was in this plot, so he had him 
arrested and brought to Paris. Napoleon had long 
been wishing for just such an opportunity to show 
his power over the Royalists. After a secret and 
hasty trial, the prince was condemned to die, and he 
was shot at six in the morning of the following day. 



143 



After this no one dared breathe a word against 
Napoleon. He knew this, and saw that the time 
was ripe for the carrying out of a long-cherished 
scheme of his. He declared that it was necessary 
for the safety and welfare of France that he should 
be made em- 
peror. The sen- 
ate and deputies 
agreed. 

The grand 
ceremony of his 
coronation took 
place in the ca- 
thedral of Notre 
Dame, Decem- 
ber, 1804. The 
Pope himself 
came from Rome to crown Napoleon, but at the last 
minute the latter seized the crown from the Pope's 
hands and placed it upon his own head. Then he 
turned and crowned Josephine as his empress. 

Napoleon was now at the height of his power. 
He was emperor of France and had conquered many 
kingdoms in Europe, over which he placed his 
brothers as rulers. England and Russia still defied 
him. He tried in vain to conquer the former. 
Germany and Austria had to yield to him. He 




Napoleon's State Coach 



144 

even forced the emperor of Austria to give him 
his daughter, Marie Louise, in marriage. He had 
divorced the Empress Josephine because she had 
borne him no children. Great was his joy when a 
Httle son was born to Marie Louise. To this child, 
the King of Rome, as Napoleon called him, he could 
leave his empire. 

Perhaps it was the desire to leave as large an 
empire as possible to his little boy that made him 
lead his army far away into Russia. Napoleon 
wished " to melt all the states of Europe into one, 
and have Paris for its capital." However, this hope 
was never realized. When Napoleon reached Mos- 
cow, a great Russian city, he found that the people 
had all fled. At first he thought that all Russia 
was fleeing before him and he was to be successful 
in his long campaign. But that night a fire broke out 
and burned the city to the ground. The people of 
Moscow themselves had set the city in flames. All 
food and shelter were destroyed. There was noth- 
ing for Napoleon to do but to turn back toward 
France with his army. The people of Moscow 
knew this. They knew, too, that Napoleon would 
meet a more terrible enemy than they. This enemy 
was the Russian winter. On it came, with wind, 
snow, and blizzards. The French soldiers died all 
along the way. They starved to death, for provi- 



145 



sions had given out. They froze to death in the 
snow. They sickened and died, worn out by the 
terrible hardships of, that awful retreat from Mos- 
cow. Only the wreck of Napoleon's splendid army 




The Retreat from Moscow 



ever reached France, and these poor, worn-out men 
had only tales of defeat and awful misery to tell. 

Again Napoleon drained his country of soldiers. 
He raised an army and won several more battles, 
but his power was broken after his terrible Russian 
retreat. The royal princes in their various hiding 
places began to stir about. England was always 



LITl^LE STORIES OF FRANCE — ID 



146 

ready to fight Napoleon. The allied powers of 
Europe rose against him and at last overcame him. 
He tried to give up his empire to his little son, but 
England refused to let him. She forced him to lay 
down his crown, and exiled him to the island of 
Elba, near the western coast of Italy. Still his 
army in France loved him. The last thing he did 
before going into exile was to bid farewell to his 
Old Guard at Fontainebleau, and to kiss the golden 
eagle on his standard. 

Sadly did the army miss their general, and it is 
said that they passed around bunches of violets, the 
badge of Napoleon's family, whispering to one 
another : — 

" He will return to us in the spring ! " 

BACK FROM EXILE 

When the cruel Paris mob imprisoned Louis XVI, 
his brothers escaped from France and lived in exile 
during the Revolution and Napoleon's rule. Louis, 
the oldest, bore the title of Louis XVIII, for the 
little son of Louis XVI lived some time after his 
father was put to death, and, although he never 
reigned, the Royalists always spoke of him as 
Louis XVII. Louis XVIII fled to England where 
he had a small court at Hart well. His private office 



147 

was so tiny that it seemed like a cabin in a ship. 
On the walls were portraits of the king, his brother, 
and the other members of the imprisoned royal 
family. The life there was so simple that no one 
would have guessed it was the household of a king, 
except for one little ceremony. Whenever Louis 
rose to leave the room, or entered it, every one else 
in the room stood, and the queen dropped him a 
courtesy. Then Louis bowed and kissed her hand. 
This little form of royal etiquette was always ob- 
served, even if the king and queen were alone. But 
this was all merely playing at being king. 

When Napoleon was sent away to the island of 
Elba, Louis XVIII became king of France in real- 
ity. As he entered Paris, the Royalists greeted him 
with cheers and hurrahs, but most of his people 
looked coldly at him, as he rode along in his car- 
riage to Notre Dame. The soldiers turned aside in 
disgust. They had no liking for the stout, infirm 
old Bourbon king, and longed for their fiery, active 
emperor, living in exile on his lonely island. 

With Louis, many nobles and their families re- 
turned to their native country. It was said of these 
nobles that while they were in exile, " they had 
learned nothing and forgotten nothing." They 
came back to find their possessions confiscated. 
They besought Louis to give them back their estates. 



148 

" The king has his royal castles and estates, just 
as before the Revolution, why should we be deprived 
of our possessions ? " they argued. 

But Louis feared the people, and refused to help 
the nobles in getting back their former estates, 
which made them very angry. 

Meanwhile a great Congress of statesmen from 
all over Europe was held in Vienna to settle the 
boundary lines of the different countries which 
Napoleon had disturbed so greatly. In the midst 
of one of these meetings word came to them that 
Napoleon had escaped from Elba, and was back in 
France. Horror was written on many faces. The 
Congress had one more meeting, voted Napoleon an 
outlaw, and then the members hastened back to 
their own countries to help raise armies to fight 
their great enemy. 

The word was true ; Napoleon had landed in 
France. To be sure, he had few friends and only 
four hundred of his former grenadiers, but as he 
marched through the towns in his old green coat, 
with the cross of the Legion of Honor on his breast, 
the soldiers cried again : — 

" Long live the emperor ! " 

They hurried to his standard from far and near. 
Louis XVni with his family fled in terror, and once 
again Napoleon entered Paris amid shouts of joy. 



149 



For just one hundred days he ruled. Then he had 
to fight the allied armies of Europe. He had mean- 
time been collecting his forces, and with them he 
went forth bravely 
and hopefully to 
meet his enemies. 
The two great 
forces came in con- 
tact at Waterloo, a 
little Belgian town. 
There was a terri- 
ble battle, and in 
the end Napoleon 
was defeated. He 
escaped to Paris, 
but his spirit was 
broken. Again he 
abdicated, and gave 
himself up a pris- 
oner to the Eng- 
lish. This time they 
exiled him to the island of Saint Helena, a lonely 
island, far out at sea, off the coast of Africa. 

For six long, weary years Napoleon lived at Saint 
Helena, guarded night and day by English soldiers. 
When he died, he was buried on the island, but in 
after years his body was brought to Paris, and laid 




Napoleon's Tomb 



ISO 

to rest in the splendid tomb at the InvaUdes. Thus 
the desire expressed in his will was gratified : — 

" I wish to be buried by the river Seine, in the 
midst of the French people whom I have loved so 
dearly." 

Louis XVIII came back again to France, but his 
reign was brief. After his death his brother became 




The Children of Charles X • 

king, with the title of Charles X. At first the 
people thought they would like him better than 
Louis XVIII, for he rode a horse well and had 
much of the dignity that the Parisians loved to see 
in a monarch. But he took away the liberties of 



the people to such an extent that they rose against 
him, and- he and his family had to flee for their lives. 
Charles X lived for many years after he ceased to 
be king, but he never dared go back to France, 
and died in exile. 



THE LITTLE KING OF ROME 

Napoleon's little son, like his father, died far 
away from France. Great had been the rejoicing 
in Paris on that March morning when the cannon 
announced to the world that an heir had been born 
to Napoleon. Windows were thrown up, carriages 
stopped in the streets, and all the people stood still 
to count the number of guns. Twenty-one reports 
meant that the baby was a girl ; one hundred and 
one, that it was a boy. When the twenty-second 
report sounded, cheers broke forth from every 
throat, and caps flew into the air. As the emperor 
stood at the windows looking down on the crowd, 
mad with joy, tears came into his eyes. 

Inside the palace, safe from all the noise, the 
little prince lay sleeping in his cradle that the 
people of Paris had given him. It was made of 
mother-of-pearl, lined with red velvet, and decorated 
with big golden bees, the crest of the Bonapartes. 
A figure of Victory, holding a crown set with Napo- 



152 



leon's star, spread its wings over the head of the 
cradle, and at the foot a young eagle gazed at the 
star and spread its wings as if about to take flight. 

That very evening the baby was christened Napo- 
leon, and given the title not only of Prince Imperial 

but also of King 
of Rome. 

When the warm 
weather came on, 
Marie Louise and 
the little Napo- 
leon left Paris to 
go to Saint Cloud. 
Here, every sunny 
day, the King of 
Rome went to 
drive in the park, 
in his gilded baby 
carriage drawn by 
two white sheep. 

Marie Louise and the King of Rome Here tOO he had 

his first portrait painted, playing with a cup and 
ball. Napoleon was away at this time, fighting. 
The portrait when finished was sent to him, and 
reached his camp on the eve of a great battle. All 
the worries and anxieties of the coming day were 
forgotten when the general saw the painting of his 




153 

boy. He placed it on a chair outside his tent and, 
caUing his generals together, declared : — 

" If my son were fifteen years old you may be 
sure that he would be here in person, among this 
multitude of brave men, and not merely in a picture." 
And the gray-haired grenadiers wept for joy as 
they looked at the little prince playing with his cup 
and ball, and thought of his glorious future. 

But it was a sad future that lay before the little 
Napoleon. Within two years his father was in 
exile on the island of Elba, and he was taken away 
from France to be brought up as an Austrian at the 
court of his grandfather. Here he missed his little 
French playmates sadly and used to say : " Any one 
can see that I am not a king. I haven't any pages." 

He was not allowed to hear much about his father. 
Even when Napoleon came back and reigned in 
Paris for the Hundred Days he never saw his son. 
One message he received from him, a message 
whispered very low to a French officer who was 
going from Vienna to Paris : " You will tell my 
father," said the boy, " that I always love him 
dearly." 

Afterwards he wrote a letter to Napoleon at 
Saint Helena and sent him a lock of his hair. 

In his father's will there was one clause which the 
little King of Rome read many a time. " Never 



154 

forget that you are a French prince." This thought 
the Austrians tried in vain to drive from his mind. 
They gave him a German name and title, but at 
heart the boy was always the King of Rome, the 
son of the Emperor Napoleon. 

When he was five years old he told an artist who 
was painting his portrait : " I want to be a soldier. 
I shall fight well. I shall be in the charge." And 
before he was seven he was wearing a uniform. 

From then until he died his greatest delight was 
drilling his company of soldiers, and reading about 
his father's victories. He wanted to be ready if 
ever the French people should call him to come 
back to be their ruler. 

But as he grew up he was not strong. Great 
anxiety was felt about his health. It was clear that 
he would never live to rule, even if the call from 
France came. When he was only twenty-one he 
died, and was laid to rest in Vienna, the little King 
of Rome, who never even saw his kingdom. 



155 



THE CITIZEN KING 



On the day that Napoleon abdicated for the second 
time, a nobleman hurried quietly back to Paris, 
made his way to the Palais Royale, and in spite of 
the protest of the gate keeper's wife, who took him 
for a madman, fell on his knees and kissed the stone 
stairs. This was Louis Philippe, the Duke of Or- 
leans, whose father was a kinsman of Louis XVI. 
He had lived in exile many years and his joy was 
inexpressible when he found that there was to be 
again a king in France, and he could return to Paris. 
So he and his wife and family came back to the 
Palais Royale, where they lived simply and quietly 
during the reigns of Louis XVIII and Charles 
X. When Charles X was driven from France, 
Louis Philippe was preparing to flee also, when he 
found that the people had chosen him king. He 
was elected, not because of his noble blood, but 
because the people thought that he would make a 
good ruler. During his life in Paris, he had tried 
to make friends among the people, and not alone 
among the nobility. So Louis Philippe was called 
" King of the French," instead of " King of France," 
to show that he ruled by the will of his country- 
men. Louis Philippe even gave up as national 
ensign the blue shield with the silver fleur-de-lis on 



156 

It, and used instead the cock, which was an old 
GalHc emblem, and the tricolor. 

It must have seemed strange indeed for Louis 
Philippe to find himself a king after his life of exile. 
He had been so poor at one time, that he had 
earned his living by teaching mathematics in a 
Swiss school. Then he had traveled through Eng- 
land and had even visited America. There is a 
story that while Louis Philippe was in America he 
met with an accident in the midst of the woods. A 
settlement was near by, but no doctor was there. 
So Louis Philippe took out his own lancet and bled 
himself so skillfully that the people of the settlement 
begged him to stay and be their physician. But he 
thanked them, and went on his way. Perhaps he 
had dreams even then of being something more 
than a doctor. 

Louis Philippe, "a little short, stout man, with 
head shaped like a pear, and surmounted with an 
elaborate brown wig," began his reign by calling 
himself the citizen king. He tried to do much for 
his country, and did succeed in having steam rail- 
ways introduced and many fine silk mills built. 
But the people were divided into different political 
parties, and it seemed impossible to satisfy them all. 

One party thought that it was not enough for all 
men to be of equal rank in the land, but believed 



157 - 

that the wealth ought also to be equally divided. 
These people had neither the white flag of the 
Bourbons, nor the tricolor for their emblem, but 
chose red caps for their party sign. They were 
often called, because of this, " The Reds." Louis 
Philippe found them to be the most dangerous men 
among his subjects. Some of " The Reds " con- 
structed an infernal machine out of twenty-four 
guns, which was fired upon the royal carriage one 
day when the king and some of his children were 
driving out of the palace. But the machine missed 
fire, and Louis Philippe and his sons escaped, al- 
though fourteen bystanders were killed on the spot. 
When Queen Marie Amelie heard of the attempted 
assassination of the king, she rushed out to meet 
him, and when she saw that he was really unharmed, 
she fell fainting into his arms. From this time she 
never left his side, not even when her daughter died 
in Belgium. They lived very happily together, and 
were devoted to their children, five sons and three 
daughters. Their eldest son, the Duke of Orleans, 
a handsome young man, was thrown from his car- 
riage, and instantly killed. This was a great grief to 
Louis Philippe, for the young duke had been very 
popular and would doubtless have succeeded his 
father on the throne. As it was, the people became 
dissatisfied, and a mob once more formed in Paris. 



158 

Louis Philippe had his army, but he would not let 
them fire upon his own people. He told the mob 
that he would abdicate in favor of his little grand- 
son, the son of the Duke of Orleana who was killed, 
with the child's mother as regent. Then Louis 
Philippe left the palace secretly, for his life w^as 
threatened by " The Reds," and reached England in 
safety. 

The widowed Duchess of Orleans came bravely 
forth with her two boys, but the people met her with 
angry threats. She soon saw that it was impossible 
to hold the throne for her son, so she and her chil- 
dren sought refuge in England, and once more there 
was no King in France. 

NAPOLEON III 

We have told the story of the last king of France, 
Louis Philippe, and now^ we come to the story of 
the last emperor. When the national assembly 
met after Louis Philippe's flight, they decided to 
have a republic instead of a kingdom and to be 
ruled by a president, who should have much the 
same power as has the President of the United 
States, and who, like him, should govern for a term 
of four years. Every man who was a French citi- 
zen, rich or poor, was to have a vote to decide who 



159 

should be president. The greatest number of votes 
was cast for Louis Napoleon, a nephew of the great 
Napoleon. He was sometimes called the prince- 
president. 

Louis Napoleon as a boy had been a great 
favorite of the Emperor Napoleon and the Empress 
Josephine, and much of his boyhood was passed 
with them. He and his brother used to stand in 
the palace windows and long to take off their silk 
stockings and little kid boots and run out to pad- 
dle in the gutters. But this young princes were 
not allowed to do. On the day before Napoleon 
set out for Waterloo, little Louis Napoleon con- 
trived to creep into the emperor's cabinet, where he 
was closeted with one of his marshals. He saw 
the troubled look on his uncle's face and, though 
too young to realize his great danger, begged him 
not to go away. When Napoleon laughed and told 
him not to fear because no one could hurt him, the 
boy still looked worried. Then his face lighted up: — 

" Let me go with you, uncle. I will take care of 
you." 

The emperor took the little chap on his knee 
and kissed him. Then he turned to the marshal. 
■ " Kiss him, marshal," he said. " He will have a 
tender heart and a lofty spirit. Perhaps he is the 
hope of my race." 



i6o 

After Waterloo, the emperor came back to Paris 
for a single night. As he stood with one foot on the 
step of the carriage that was to bear him into exile, 
he paused a moment to kiss little Louis Napoleon 
and his brother farewell. 

A life of exile was beginning that same day for 
these two boys. Their mother fled with them to 
Switzerland, where they grew up in a gloomy old 
country house. When Louis Napoleon was quite a 
young man, he seemed to have cherished hopes of 
succeeding his famous uncle as emperor of France. 
He made two attempts to seize the crown, but both 
times he was unsuccessful. The second time he 
was taken prisoner and for a long time was kept 
shut up in the fortress of Ham. He was given a 
great deal of freedom here, but still the governor of 
the fortress was a man of strict honor and kept a 
close watch on his prisoner. Nevertheless, Louis 
Napoleon escaped. One day some carpenters and 
painters were to be at work in the fortress. Louis 
Napoleon, knowing this, told his servant, who was 
allowed to go in and out of the prison at his pleas- 
ure, to buy him an old blouse and a pair of overalls. 
As soon as the carpenters and painters began their 
work, Louis Napoleon put on these old clothes, cut 
off his black mustache, set a dark wig on his head, 
smeared his face with paint, thrust his feet into 



i6i 

wooden shoes, stuck an old clay pipe in his mouth, 
and, throwing a board over his shoulder, made his 
way out of the fortress unrecognized, for the sentries 
supposed him to be one of the workmen busy in 
the fortress. 

Louis Napoleon had many other adventures, which 
we cannot tell here, before he became the prince-presi- 
dent of France. But he was not satisfied with this, for 
as president he did not have sufficient power. The 
Assembly was split up into many factions, all hostile 
to him. So Louis Napoleon determined to over- 
throw the unruly Assembly and lessen its power. 
He laid his plans very carefully, and one morning 
the people of Paris awoke to find the streets and 
squares filled with soldiers, and proclamations 
scattered broadcast announcing a new Constitution 
for which every citizen had the right to vote, and 
also stating that Louis Napoleon's presidency had 
been extended for the next ten years. Some of the 
wiser men saw that this was merely a stepping stone 
to the president becoming emperor. In fact, before 
the end of the next year, Louis put the question 
before the country, whether an empire should not 
be established with himself as emperor, and the 
answer was an overwhelming number of affirmative 
votes. So Louis Napoleon became emperor with 
the title of Napoleon III. There really never 

LITTLE STORIES OF FRANCE — II 



l62 

had been any Napoleon II, but Napoleon I had 
given this title to his little son, the King of Rome, 
when he abdicated in his favor, so Louis Napoleon 
chose to be called Napoleon III. 

Soon after he became emperor, Napoleon III 
married a Spanish lady of high rank, but not of 
royal blood, — Eugenie de Montijo. She was a 
very beautiful woman who had conceived a romantic 
interest in the prince when he was prisoner at Ham. 
When he became president, and later emperor, she 
and her mother were often seen at his court at 
Fontainebleau. Eugenie was a superb horse- 
woman and riding was the emperor's special accom- 
plishment. One day they lost their way together in 
the woods. As they rested under a tree. Napoleon 
plaited a wreath of leaves and placed it in Eugenie's 
hair, saying : — 

" I hope soon to replace it with a better one." 
Their wedding was very brilliant. The state 
carriages were regilded for the occasion, and the 
apartments in the Tuileries refurnished. The city 
of Paris voted over a hundred thousand dollars 
with which to buy Eugenie a diamond necklace as 
a wedding gift. Very gracefully she declined the 
necklace, but accepted the money, with which she 
endowed an orphan asylum. She was one of the 
loveliest women who ever came to the French 



i63 

throne. The emperor's happiness was complete 
when a son was born to him. The Httle boy was 
given the title of Prince Imperial. 

Napoleon III wished to be known as the Napo- 
leon of Peace in contrast to his uncle, the Napoleon 
of War, but this was not possible. He had many 
foreign wars and the Red Republicans in Paris were 
always plotting against him. Finally the news 
came that the Spanish crown had been offered to a 
prince of Prussia. The French, always jealous of 
any increase of power in their neighbor and rival, 
Germany, determined to prevent Spain from having 
a German for king, even if it meant war. 

Napoleon III saw that the only safe thing for him 
to do was to obey the desire of his people. He 
collected the army and went himself with his young 
son, the Prince Imperial, to meet the Germans. 
Misfortune after misfortune, and defeat after defeat, 
fell upon the French armies. Then came the ter- 
rible battle of Sedan, when Napoleon III was obliged 
to surrender himself to the Prussian king. All he 
could do for his people was to send back word to 
Paris to defend that city, for the Prussians were 
advancing to besiege it. The Parisians laid all the 
blame on Napoleon for the disasters of the war. 
They assembled and declared that the empire was at 
an end, and for the third time established a republic. 



164 

The Empress Eugenie escaped from Paris in 
disguise, and sought refuge in England. Napo- 
leon III was well treated by his German captors and, 
after the close of the war, joined his wife and son in 
England. But he was suffering from a terrible 
disease and soon died in the arms of his loving 
wife, the empress. 

THE SIEGE OF PARIS 

The people throughout France had voted for 
Napoleon III as emperor, but the people of Paris 
had always been hostile to him, and now were full of 
rejoicing at his overthrow. In their excitement at 
having the government once more in their own hands 
they seemed to forget the message Napoleon III 
had sent them, — that the Prussians were on their 
way to attack Paris. Suddenly they realized the 
coming disaster, and hurried to make preparations 
to withstand a siege. 

There were hardly any soldiers in Paris, so they 
had to be called home from foreign lands. The 
fortifications were not complete and men were busy 
working on them day and night. All the railroads 
coming into Paris were loaded with provisions. 
Women and children, if their fathers or husbands 
could afford it, were sent from the city. The poor 



i65 

peasants living outside of the walls hurried within and 
took possession of any of the empty houses that they 
could lay hands on. The broad avenues of Paris 
that Napoleon III had built were blocked with 
loaded wagons, fashionable teams, and flocks of 
sheep, all in one another's way, trying in vain to 
proceed. The trees in the beautiful park, the Bois 
de Boulogne, were cut down, and all the deer, swans, 
and wild fowls had to be shot, for their homes and 
food had been taken away from them. The villages 
just outside the city were burned to the ground. 
This was done so that the Prussians should not find 
shelter so near Paris, and also that the Parisians 
might watch their movements. Two weeks after 
the battle of Sedan, the Prussian armies came. On 
September 19, the trains ceased running, the en- 
trances into Paris were blocked up, and the fifty- 
one gates of the city were closed. The siege of 
Paris had begun. 

The story of this siege is terrible. The rest of 
France scarcely lifted a hand to help the capital. 
Paris had tyrannized over the country, had set up 
one government only to tear it down, and had caused 
P" ranee so much suffering that the country felt she 
was now receiving her just punishment. But even 
worse than this desertion was the turmoil within the 
city itself. The Red Republicans were feared as 



i66 

much as the Prussians. Hardly a day went by 
when Parisians were not fighting Parisians. 

The Prussians had taken up their headquarters 
in the beautiful palace of Versailles, and from thence 
proceeded to blockade Paris. No one could enter 
or leave the city. For months the siege continued. 
One of the worst things the Parisians had to bear 
was the lack of news. They could not tell what 
was going on in France ; they could not get any 
word to their wives and children, for the Prussians 
allowed no newspapers or mail to go out or to come 
into Paris. Finally the Parisians overcame this 
difficulty to a certain extent. They made balloons 
which could carry four or five people at once, and 
these they sent out at night when it was too dark 
for the Prussians to see and fire at them. 

Besides carrying out mail, the men in the bal- 
loons took with them many carrier pigeons, that 
brought back messages to the besieged people. 
Some of these messages were written in such fine 
script that they could be read only by the aid of a 
microscope. This was done so that as much news 
as possible might be crowded in one message, for a 
pigeon could carry but little. Some of the pigeons 
were shot by the Prussians, but many flew safely 
home, and great was the excitement when one of 
them alighted on a roof in the city. 



16/ 

It is hard for us to realize how terrible a siege is. 
On Christmas day a few boxes of bonbons were 
sold, but most people were thankful if they could 
secure a potato or a small package of coffee as a 
Christmas gift. Meat in particular had become very 
scarce. Even the wild animals in the Zoological 
Gardens had to be killed for food. To add to the 
misery of the Parisians, the winter was the coldest 
that had been known for twenty years. 

The Prussians sent their terrible shells down into 
the city. Hundreds of people were killed; hundreds 
w^ere starving to death. Soldiers froze at their posts 
because their wretched, tattered clothing could not 
keep them warm. No one dared to say the word 
capitulate, although one of the newspapers printed 
the fact that by February 3 there would not be a 
mouthful of bread in Paris. Then the brave city 
was forced to surrender. 

The terms of peace were hard. Two provinces, 
Alsace and Lorraine, which Louis XIV had won 
for France, had to be given up, as well as two fine 
fortresses. The nation was forced to pay an enor- 
mous sum of money to Prussia, and had to allow the 
Prussian army to enter Paris. The war which the 
French began so enthusiastically was at an end, and 
France found herself a smaller country, with an 
overturned throne and a ruined capital. 



1 68 



THE COMMUNE 



You would have thought that when the Prussians 
marched back to their own country, Paris would have 
been left too weak and weary of bloodshed to desire 
anything but peace. Instead, Paris was soon to 
become the scene of even more atrocious deeds than 
those of the siege. The Red Republicans had been 
gathering their forces all during the Franco- Prussian 
war, hoping at its close to seize the government in 
their own hands. The moment the treaty was 
signed, they began their work. They barricaded 
the streets of Paris and closed the gates of the city. 
The government in terror fled to Versailles, to await 
the arrival of French troops that had been held 
prisoners of war. The Red Republicans ignored 
the government at Versailles and set up in Paris a 
government of their own. They gave it the name 
of Commune (an old word for a town council), and 
called themselves Communists. But these men 
could not rule well, for they had no respect for prop- 
erty, law, order, or religion. 

They turned the clergy out of their churches 
and the Sisters of Charity out of the hospitals. 
Some of the best and holiest men of the clergy, who 
had spent their lives in helping these Red Republi- 
cans, and who had worked day and night during 



169 

the siege to lessen suffering and procure food for 
the starving, were mercilessly shot. 

A feeling of rage against the Bonapartes arose, 
and a mob tore down the beautiful column in the 
Place Vendome that had been molded out of Napo- 
leon's old cannon to commemorate his victories. 

The women were even more violent than the men. 
They went around the city singing songs of liberty, 
bearing weapons, and making terrible threats. All 
France was against these terrible Red Republicans, 
who seemed more like madmen than human beings, 
but there were not yet enough loyal government 
troops in Paris to overcome them. 

Finally they began to set fire to the buildings. 
The royal palace of the Tuileries was burned to the 
ground. Poor old women, with bent backs and 
haggard faces, were seen crawling about the streets 
carrying little cans of petroleum. For every house 
they set on fire they received ten francs, which is 
about two dollars. The provisional government at 
Versailles, and all true Frenchmen, could not bear 
to see their beloved Paris thus demolished. An 
army was at last collected and it marched against 
the Communists, shooting down men and women 
alike. No mercy was shown. The Red Republi- 
cans gathered for a final resistance in one of the 
large cemeteries, but the soldiers, with better weap- 



170 

ons and discipline, overcame them. Many of the 
revolutionists were killed on the spot, many more 
were hurried off to Versailles to be shot, and many 
were sent into exile. The Red Republic was red 
indeed with blood. 

You will be glad to hear that now peace and 
order were soon restored. The Third Republic was 
formed, and ever since then France has been gov- 
erned by a president. 

Adolphe Thiers was elected first president of the 
Third Republic. He had been a poor boy, brought 
up in southern France. His cousin, who was a 
poet, became interested in the lad, and gave him an 
education. Thiers well repaid this kindness. From 
the time he entered school he was always at the 
head of his class. He devoted himself to the study 
of history and was the author of many famous 
historical works. He negotiated the peace with 
Germany, and had helped to suppress the Com- 
mune, thus making history in his own person. He 
was a collector of valuable historical curios and 
documents, and his house was a rich and interesting 
museum. When he died, he bequeathed it, with all 
his collections, to the city of Paris. 

Through the years that have elapsed since 1871, 
there have been many pretenders to the French 
throne, — kinsmen of the Bourbons, or of Louis 



171 

Philippe, or of the Bonapartes, — but France has 
stood firm for a republican form of government, 
with a president at its head, chosen by the people. 

FRANCE OF TO-DAY 

Modern France is a beautiful land. No signs of 
the terrible days of revolution and foreign war are 
now to be seen. She stands proudly and justly as 
one of the great countries of Europe. 

On her western coasts are great fisheries. In 
the south the land is covered with vineyards. Huge 
flocks of sheep wander over plains where once 
stretched immense forests through which the Gauls 
chased the buffaloes. Mulberry trees are so exten- 
sively grown that France heads the world as a great 
silk manufacturing nation. Canals, rivers and rail- 
way systems connect the various parts of the Re- 
public with one another and with the rest of the 
continent. 

The French people have always been intelligent 
and fond of learning. The Republic has done much 
toward educating the people, for the government 
has control of all the public schools from the pri- 
mary grades up to the university. 

When you go to Paris, you will find it hard to 
believe the stories I have been telling you about the 



1/2 

dreadful siege in 1870-1871. The trees have grown 
up again in the Bois de Boulogne, and the swans 
are sailing about serenely on the lakes. In the streets 
are throngs of gayly dressed people, driving in open 
carriages, riding on the top of the big omnibuses, 
sitting at the open cafes, or strolling up and down 
the great avenue, the Champs-Elysees. You will 
see children playing merrily about in the Tuileries 
and Luxembourg gardens, and little street urchins 
dangling their bare legs in the fountain basins or 
watching the open-air Punch and Judy shows. 
Some of the children are accompanied by nurses, 
who wear long white aprons, and caps with stream- 
ers that float down their backs to the hem of their 
black dresses. You walk along the Champs-Elysees 
to the Place de la Concorde, famous the world over. 
It was in this square, then called the Place de la 
Revolution, that Louis XVI was put to death in 

1793- 

As you continue your walk, you come upon the 

open square where the Palace of the Tuileries once 

stood. It was here, you will remember, that Louis 

XVI and Marie Antoinette were so long imprisoned, 

and here Napoleon III and the Empress Eugenie 

gave so many splendid fetes. You cross the square 

and enter the old palace of the Louvre, now one of 

the finest picture galleries in the world. As you 



173 

stroll through the long rooms you see famous paint- 
ings by great artists, with many of which photo- 
graphs have already made you familiar. 

When you tire of the pictures, perhaps, you walk 
out to the banks of the river Seine and cross over 
to this island part of the city, called the He de la Cite. 
It is so small that you can scarcely believe that 
once this island alone was the capital of the kingdom. 




Church of Notre Dame 



Looming up before you are the two towers of the 
great cathedral of Notre Dame. Can you imagine, 
as you walk down the high-vaulted nave, with the 
soft light streaming in through the stained glass 
windows, what splendid pageants of the many kings 
of France have taken place within these very walls ? 
But no more brilliant scene was ever enacted here 
than when Napoleon, seizing the crown from the 



174 

hands of the Pope at the altar, made himself Emperor 
of the French. If you climb up in one of the towers 
of Notre Dame, among the gargoyles, you get a fine 
view of the city spread out on both banks of the 
Seine — up and down the river ply little steamers, 
and the scene is a gay and animated one. 

Leaving Notre Dame, you visit the Palais de 
Justice, or Law Courts, on the other side of the 
island. This building was an old palace of the 
kings of France, and the most interesting part of it 
is the beautiful little chapel, with walls that seem 
one blaze of stained glass, built by Saint Louis in 
the thirteenth century. 

Paris is full of famous things for you to see. 
Under the old hotel of the abbots of Cluny, now a 
museum, may be seen parts of the great baths 
belonging to a Roman palace built by one of the 
later emperors of Rome who resided in Gaul. In 
the museum itself are many relics of mediaeval 
times, and beautiful tapestries, carvings, and 
jewels. 

Then, one day, you take your place in the train, 
and in a short time reach "Versailles, and visit the 
wonderful palace of Louis XIV, where he used to 
hold his splendid fetes. If you follow one of the 
paths through the trees of the park, you will come 
suddenly upon the little dairy house, called Le Petit 



175 

Trianon, where Marie Antoinette and her court 
ladies used to play at being dairymaids. 

Another day you go out, perhaps, to Saint Denis, 
and look among the royal tombs for the grave of 
good King Dagobert. The old warden of the 
church will show you the flag that Saint Louis took 
with him on his crusades. 

Nor must you neglect to visit the chateau of 
Fontainebleau, filled with memories of Francis I. 




Gargoyles of Notre Dame 



There you will see the famous horseshoe stairway, 
leading up from the great courtyard, where Napo- 
leon stood when he said good-by to his Old Guards 
before he went into exile on the island of Elba. 

A drive through the forest of Fontainebleau 
will bring you to the little village of Barbizon, now 
famous the world over because of two great painters 



176 

who once lived there, — Millet and Rosa Bonheur. 
Many other celebrated artists, among whom you 
may have heard the names of Corot and Rousseau, 
loved to paint in this beautiful forest. 

So, some time, if you travel through the " pleasant 
land of France," and visit all the historic places you 
have read about in these little stories, you will come 
to feel more and more the reality of these kings 
and queens, these brave heroes, and these good 
women, and will realize what a living thing the 
memory of them is to-day. 



JUL 17 IC'-J. 



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030 241 499 3 




